Edodale
by wombat
Summary: Kaoru Kamiya-Summers meets librarian Rupert Hiko; the rest is destiny (& KK). More of a BuffyRK morph than a true crossover, mixing elements from both worlds with love, vengeance, redemption, and mochi. Chapter 20: Sano's priorities and Naked!Yumi.
1. the potter's field

(Has this crossover concept already been explored? Went poking around a bit, but didn't   
see anything. I know, I know, I'm messing around with both series' strict chronology, but   
hey, I'm still feeling my way through it. This project is ongoing, so may appear to end   
very abruptly at times.)  
  
Rurouni Kenshin belongs to Watsuki Nobuhiro. Buffy belongs to Joss Whedon. I'm just   
messin' around with them.  
  
(no real title yet)   
By wombat  
  
It was a beautiful day in Edodale, too beautiful to be the first day of the school year.   
Kaoru Kamiya-Summers grimaced at the bright blue sky that shone through her bedroom   
window. She could already hear her younger brother Yahiko showering in their shared   
bathroom down the hall, so she pulled her hair up into her usual ponytail and went   
downstairs in her pajamas.  
  
Their mother, Joyce, had already prepared breakfast, and was putting together a bento   
box for their father, Koshijirou, to take to the martial-arts school where he taught. "Eat   
your natto before it gets too sticky, honey. Oh, don't look at me that way or your face will   
stay like that."  
  
Yahiko clattered down to join them, his hair still clinging pointily together and dripping   
all over the place. "It's not like she could look any worse that way, mom. Can I have her   
natto?"  
  
Joyce pushed both bowls over to Yahiko, then grabbed a kitchen towel to fondly ruffle   
his head dry. "You know your sister is a lovely girl, so stop it. Kaoru, at least eat a bowl   
of cereal or something before you go."  
  
"Yeah, like she'd be able to make eggs Benedict instead," Yahiko muttered, but quickly   
stuffed his mouth full of natto and rice as Joyce gave him her second-warning look.  
  
Kaoru bapped him on the head for good measure as she passed him on the way back to   
the stairs. "Gotta take my shower first before the bus comes. If you've used all the hot   
water, you're gonna pay!"  
  
----  
  
The new high school was disorienting, but at least Kaoru would still have some classes   
with her old friends from intermediate school. At the start of lunch break, she saw them   
together in the hallway and waved. "Sano! Megumi!"  
  
Sano was a little taller, but still the same goofy self, at least judging from what Kaoru   
could see at the moment. His back turned to her-- was he ever going to get a new jean   
jacket besides this old one with "Aku" on it?-- he was trying to help balance the immense   
pile of books Megumi was pulling out of her locker. Nearly invisible behind the stack,   
Megumi craned her face up over them at Kaoru and did a complex ballet of eyebrow-  
waggles that looked like they meant, "Hi! Can't wave because of the books, and can't talk   
because when Sano came over here, he stuck his weird fishbone-thingy mascot into my   
mouth to hold so his hands would be free. Sorry, talk to you later!"  
  
Unfortunately, Megumi's facial contortions distracted Sano enough to first stare at her in   
bewilderment, and then turn around and spot Kaoru. As he waved back at her, his elbow   
knocked over all of Megumi's books again. Megumi handed the fishbone-thingy back to   
him and bent to regather the stack as Kaoru came over to join them.  
  
"It looks like your pre-premed summer camp was a blast," Kaoru said. "And hey, you   
probably got all buff and pumped from carrying those around, not just the mental   
workout."  
  
Megumi smiled, pushing her fox-red hair out of her face. "Oh, camp was fun. But these   
are old books, actually. I thought I'd clear out some space on my shelves at home by   
donating them to the school library. I tried to do that at the end of last year, but our   
intermediate school didn't want them."  
  
Sano picked up and opened a book at random. "Ew. I can see why. Couldn't you have   
gotten any books on, like, more attractive-looking diseases?"  
  
"Well, there's the plastic-surgery one, but only the 'after' pics are nice. You might not   
want to look at the `before' ones. Or the 'during'." Megumi had been sorting the other   
books into three separate piles, and pushed one pile at each of her friends. "Come on,   
help me out here. The library's that way, right?"  
  
---  
  
"This is a library?" Sano looked around, bewildered. "It looks like a cross between   
'Attack of the Mud People' and Frankenstein's lab. What is all this stuff?" They had been   
hopelessly lost in the halls for a half-hour already. While the room they'd entered had   
clearly had a "librarian's office" sign in front of it, the interior had no books in sight.   
There was a vat full of grey goo, a long table laid out with several open jars of thin grey   
liquid, and a small round stool too grimy to sit on.  
  
"There's another door over there," Kaoru said uncertainly. She stepped toward it, picking   
her way around grey puddles, but just as she reached toward the knob, someone came   
through the door they'd originally entered from.  
  
"Oh, hello there," the man said. He was tall and well-built, with a long white labcoat or   
artist's smock sweeping down from his shoulders, but his sheer physical presence was   
offset by a strange sense of self-suppression: I am not who I am; do not notice me. He   
also had a streak of grey goo on his face. "Are all those books for me?" he asked.  
  
Kaoru shifted her stack back into her hands, having tilted them against her torso for   
balance. "Well, we were looking for the library."  
  
"Ah yes," he said, glancing back at the hallway. "I really must have them fix that sign.   
This was meant to be my office, but as you can see, I've turned it into more of a   
workshop. Pity there wasn't room in here for the kiln, but it's easy enough to walk things   
down the hall."  
  
By now, even Megumi looked as confused as Kaoru felt. "We really need to drop these   
off before the cafeteria closes or our arms fall off, because we can't eat lunch without   
arms, or lunch. So if we leave these with you, can you tell the librarian we left them?"   
Megumi asked.  
  
"Of course, I'm sorry." The man wiped his grey-smeared hands clean on his coat and took   
Megumi's books from her. "I am the librarian, you see. Rupert Hiko's the name. My   
goodness, is that _Principles of Ichthyological Toxicology_? I haven't seen a copy of that   
for years!" He looked at them a little more sternly. "I hope you're all prepared to pay   
substantial overdue fines for these if they were checked out last spring."  
  
"Oh, I've brought them in as donations. And that's a recent revision of IckTox; the new   
editor is so much better. He can turn a fugu into a fugue." Megumi grinned proudly at her   
pun, then became immediately crestfallen as Sano and Kaoru gave her their best pithed-  
frog looks of incomprehension.  
  
"I see; excellent," Hiko murmured. He riffled through the book, then took a longer look at   
the flyleaf. "You must be Miss Megumi Rosenberg, I presume. And your friends are...?"  
  
"Sanosuke Harris, but everyone calls me Sano," Sano said, stepping forward to dump his   
own books into Hiko's arms with relief.  
  
Doing the same, Kaoru said, "And I'm Kaoru Kamiya-Summers."  
  
For some reason, Hiko's eyes went wide at that. "Kamiya-Summers? As in the Kamiya   
dojo?"  
  
"Yeah, my dad owns it. He's the head instructor."  
  
"There's something important I must talk to you about him, before it's too late--"  
  
The bell rang. "Oooh! We're going to be late for class!" Megumi said. All three students   
dashed for the door.  
  
Weighed down by the books, Hiko was unable to do more to impede Kaoru than elbow   
her in the ribs. "Miss Kamiya-Summers, this is terribly important. I must speak to you at   
once--"  
  
She dodged him easily. "I'll come back after class, I promise!" 


	2. enter the dragon

Rurouni Kenshin belongs to Watsuki Nobuhiro. Buffy belongs to Joss Whedon. I'm just   
messin' around with them.   
  
Edodale   
(for lack of a better title yet)   
By wombat  
  
Chapter 2  
  
As soon as she got home after cheerleading tryouts, Kaoru could tell something was   
wrong. Her parents' car wasn't in the driveway. Yahiko was sitting on the front porch in   
the fading afternoon light with his backpack beside him, engrossed in his Game Boy. He   
looked up as she came near. "Oh, I forgot my key again. Shouldn't Mom be home by   
now? It's not your turn to cook again, is it?"  
  
Kaoru unlocked the door. "I cooked last night."  
  
"That's why I was so hungry this morning."  
  
She ignored that. "She didn't say anything about lessons running late at the dojo tonight,   
but why don't you call them while I get the rice started?" She measured out a few scoops   
of rice and washed it, rinsing and pouring out the water until it ran out clear from the   
grains. It always took longer than she expected, or maybe she just wasn't doing it right.   
By the time it looked ready to her, the sun had fallen all the way to the horizon.   
"Yahiko," she called back over her shoulder to the tv room, "did you call the dojo yet?"  
  
He yelled back over the sound of his cartoons. "Yeah, I called them before Dragonball   
started. They didn't answer. They must be on their way home already."  
  
Kaoru poured the rinsed rice into the cooker with some water and flipped the switch, then   
joined Yahiko on the sofa. "Is that Dragonball or Dragonball Z?"  
  
"It's Z. Why?" He giggled and poked her. "Get it? Z? Y?"  
  
She smacked him out of habit at the same time as she realized something. "But that   
means you called them more than half an hour ago. It shouldn't take a half-hour for them   
to drive home."  
  
"It shouldn't take a half-hour to rinse rice, either. Look at your hands, they're all pruny."  
  
Kaoru rubbed her pruny hands together nervously. "Something's wrong. Maybe they   
stopped on the way home to get groceries?" She heard a car pulling into the driveway   
outside, jumped up, and ran to the door. But when she opened it, her words of relieved   
welcome stopped dead. It wasn't her parents. It was Mr. Hiko, from school.  
  
He looked tidier without his long labcoat/smock thing, though when he extended his   
hand, his fingernails still had clay under them. "Miss Kamiya-Summers?"  
  
"Oh gosh, I forgot to come back and talk to you, I'm sorry," she said, remembering too   
late. "Can this wait until tomorrow? It's almost dinnertime for us."  
  
"I'm afraid it can't wait," he said. "But as long as I'm here, perhaps I can speak to your   
parents instead."  
  
She hesitated, worried about safety precautions, but this was the school librarian, after all.   
"They're not home yet. I thought when your car pulled up--"  
  
"They're not?" As he turned back to look down the dark street, empty of any other   
headlights, his whole posture seemed to change. Kaoru took a step back, worried, but he   
didn't move toward her. "This could be catastrophic. Can you give me directions to their   
dojo?"  
  
"Hey Kaoru, who is it?" Yahiko came up behind her. "Jehovah's Witnesses or   
something?"  
  
"It's Mr. Hiko, the high-school librarian," she told him.  
  
"Is that your brother? You must be the heir to the Kamiya Kasshin Ryuu school, then,"   
Hiko said to him, but Kaoru bristled.  
  
"He's only been training with shinai for a few years. I'm way more ahead in our training   
than he is. I can take on my dad with a bokken any day."  
  
Hiko looked startled. "I see. Apologies for my rude assumption. But where were we-- it's   
imperative that you tell me how to get to their dojo at once, before-- " He broke off,   
biting his lip.  
  
"It's kinda hard to find," Yahiko said. "You have to make all these little turns around one-  
way streets, and then there's the unmarked alley and stuff. It would be faster if we just   
showed you."  
  
"Yahiko!"  
  
He grinned up at her. "Hey, this guy knows he's dealing with two advanced students of   
the Kamiya Kasshin Ryuu school. He's not going to do anything stupid."  
  
Kaoru glowered at him. "What do you mean, two?"  
  
Yahiko took on the wounded-cherub look that usually meant their parents were walking   
up behind Kaoru when she was yelling at him. "You weren't going to let me go all alone   
with him, were you?"  
  
---  
  
For such a tall man, Hiko's car was tiny: some kind of little British zoomy thing that   
looked like the Austen Powersmobile. But Yahiko was still small enough to cram himself   
into the nominal back seat, and there was plenty of legroom for Kaoru in the passenger's   
seat up front. Yahiko kept pointing up between the seats to give directions, getting   
smacked by Kaoru every time his finger got too close to her head. "Okay, take the second   
left there-- look for the little turn lane two cars long-- and just when the road bends,   
there's a driveway across from the speed-limit sign, which is why people always miss it,   
'cause they're looking at the sign."  
  
The lot was still nearly full. Hiko parked beside their parents' car. "Maybe they went out   
for dinner and that's why they didn't answer the phone?" Kaoru guessed. "Yahiko, did   
you check for messages when you called?"  
  
"Didn't see any," Yahiko said.  
  
Mr. Hiko laid a hand on their car's hood. "It's cold," he said. "It hasn't been driven for   
several hours at least. Let's go inside. Do you have a key?"  
  
"No, but if they're inside, they'll let us in." Kaoru went to the door and pushed the buzzer.   
They waited a few minutes without an answer. She pushed the buzzer again, and Yahiko   
knocked on the door. The door swung open from the light pressure of his knuckles.   
Inside, catastrophe awaited beneath fluorescent lights.  
  
The reception desk had been smashed. The phone's cord had been ripped out from the   
wall, and the dead receiver lay in a bloody hand. Kaoru gasped, but forced herself to   
look. The body didn't belong to her mother; it was one of her father's students. She   
pushed Yahiko from the door, stepping to block his view of what lay inside.  
  
"Hey!" he said, his voice shaking. "What was that?"  
  
She bent to look at him face to face. "Yahiko, you know that grocery store we passed on   
the corner? I want you to run there as fast as you can and use their phone to call the   
police. And then stay there until either we fetch you or the police come. Got it?"  
  
"But Kaoru, I--"  
  
"Don't argue. Just go!" He went, his sandals slapping against the asphalt. Mr. Hiko had   
already gone inside, and she followed him.  
  
"Don't touch anything," he warned her. "They'll want fingerprints, and it doesn't look as if   
we can help this unfortunate woman now."  
  
Kaoru swallowed hard. The door to the dojo proper had been left ajar, and she eased it   
open with the tip of her toe. The entrance corridor had more bodies. Most of them wore   
the uniforms of her father's school, but some of them did not: ragged, fetid carcasses that   
looked like they'd escaped from that old Michael Jackson video. And finally, the training   
room, which had always been a haven of gleaming wood, where the ceremonial sword of   
their family hung in a place of honor. None of these things was true now.  
  
Joyce Summers lay bound and unconscious, her breathing harsh but steady. She was   
covered with fine pinpricks and lines of blood, as if someone had been delicately poking   
and sliding a sharp blade all over her body. The sword's locked case was empty, with   
starbursts all over the reinforced glass where someone had tried to break it before it had   
been unlocked. And the former keeper of that lock's key, Koshijirou Kamiya, sat slumped   
against the wall, with a knife through his heart and a cross-shaped wound cut into his   
cheek.  
  
Kaoru whirled away from this sight, choking. "Did you know this was going to happen?.   
Why didn't you talk to them-- them, not me!-- while there was still time?"  
  
Hiko's face was grim. "I knew they might be in danger, yes. But I never thought he'd go   
this far, or strike this soon. I wanted to talk to you first to see whether you'd overheard   
anything, if they even knew what could happen to them. That way I could learn what they   
knew without alarming them."  
  
"Well, it's too late to worry about that now, isn't it?" She was nearly in tears, her head   
spinning with the injustice of it all. "And who is 'he'? Do you mean you know who did   
this?"  
  
"What did you know about your family's sword?"  
  
She stared up at him, disoriented by this tangent. "The sakabatou? It's an heirloom, but   
it's useless. Not only does it have the sharp edge on the wrong side of the blade, but it's   
made of pure silver. It's too soft and heavy to fight with. Maybe you could sell it to be   
melted down, but it's not worth enough to kill ten people for. Why would anyone--"  
  
"No one could fight a human opponent with it. But in the right hands, with the right   
training, you could kill the undead."  
  
"Are you completely nuts?" Kaoru screamed. "My father is lying here dead, and you're   
talking about things that go bump in the night?"  
  
Hiko remained unruffled. "Look behind you. Look at the creatures that attacked him.   
They look like they've been dead for months, don't they? They were. I'd say they broke in   
while everyone else was out, perhaps last night. And this morning-- do your father's   
students usually arrive before he does, and wait outside for him? Indeed so. When your   
parents arrived, they all went into the dojo together and found the intruders trying to   
break into the case. His students forced them down the corridor in an attempt to call for   
help, and bought him enough time with their lives to open the case and get the sword out.   
Then the creatures forced their way back here, where your father killed several of them   
before they forced him to surrender by threatening your mother. And then they took the   
sakabatou and killed him. I think that by the time I tried to speak to you, it was already   
too late."  
  
Before she could ask him to explain anything else, she heard Yahiko's voice from the   
reception area. "Kaoru? Are you okay in there? Mr. Hiko? The police and the paramedics   
are here. Can you come out and talk to them?"  
  
"Are you going to tell them any of that?" Kaoru demanded.  
  
Hiko's smile was a little sad. "If you don't believe me, why should they? And like those   
students, they wouldn't have any hope trying to fight Battousai and his followers."  
  
Kaoru glared at him. "And who's Battousai?"  
  
"I'll explain him to you later. Let's go."  
  
---  
  
Having gotten a better look at the reception area, Yahiko was busy being sick in the   
parking lot. Kaoru went to his side to hug him tight. Without making it obvious, she tried   
to listen to what Mr. Hiko was telling the police, in case she wanted their stories to match   
up later, but it was hard to concentrate. Something about her leaving her bookbag at the   
library, and as it was on his way home, he'd dropped it off at her house, where she and   
her brother were worried about their parents not being home yet, so he'd given them a   
ride here. It wouldn't stand up for a moment if she wanted to deny it.   
  
She wasn't sure she trusted Hiko. For all she knew, he was an accomplice of these thieves   
and murderers. Maybe he'd driven them here so their house would be empty, and it was   
being robbed too, right now. She wanted to stand up and denounce him. She wanted to   
cry in her father's living arms. She wanted her mother, lying pale and unconscious on the   
ambulance gurney, to feed her fresh mochi and tell her everything would be all right.  
  
Yahiko had stopped throwing up. Sniffling, he wiped his face on his sleeve and leaned   
against her in a rare moment of brotherly love. "Kaoru?" he said after a moment.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"The rice is going to be all dried out by the time we get home."  
  
"I know."  
  
---  
  
The next two weeks were a blur. Joyce's injuries were extensive, but superficial. After a   
few days in which Kaoru and Yahiko lived more in her hospital room than at home, she   
was released, and began to make the funeral arrangements.   
  
The service seemed to go on forever, but Kaoru tried to make it stretch out even longer to   
herself, because this was the last time her family would really be together. The endless   
prayers and ringing bells, the parade of her parents' friends, the rich incense smoke   
pervading everything, and finally the transfer of her father's last remains into the funeral   
urn.  
  
Megumi and Sano were there, looking pale and drawn. Kaoru hadn't seen them for a   
while, since she hadn't been in school since the first day. They drew their circle of   
friendship around her and murmured words of meaningless comfort, because it was the   
only thing they could do.  
  
After everything was over, Kaoru stayed behind with them while Joyce took Yahiko   
home. The three friends sat together in the temple garden, watching the koi dart through   
the water lilies. "I heard Mr. Hiko drove both of you to the dojo that night," Megumi said.   
"He hasn't said anything about it, though. I mean, you expect librarians to be quiet, but   
this is way more quiet than that. He said--" she hesitated, fumbling for his exact words,   
"it's a terrible tragedy, and he doesn't want to increase the burden on you by violating   
your privacy. And that's about it."  
  
"The newspaper said the dojo was robbed," Sano said. "They've issued a lookout with   
the Antiques Roadshow types for heirloom swords, but I don't think anything has turned   
up."  
  
"No," Kaoru said dully. "It wouldn't."  
  
"It also said that judging from the ones who were killed, the guys who broke in seemed to   
be really skanky street people or something. You wouldn't think they'd know enough   
about antiques to go after something like that, but maybe it's a drug gang. There've been a   
couple more weird murders in the past few weeks, and I heard at the Akabeko that the   
bodies all have an X scratched into their faces, just like--"  
  
"Sano!" Megumi stopped him. "Sometimes I think you couldn't get any more tactless   
unless you became the square root of negative tact."  
  
"Me?"  
  
"Actually, 'i'. But never mind." Megumi squeezed Kaoru's hand. "You're coming back to   
school tomorrow, right? Are you okay?"  
  
"I guess so. Yahiko looks fine. I think he's been putting all his energy into training harder.   
He broke at least ten shinai against that big tree in our back yard last week. Mom says he   
obviously won't grow up to be a tree surgeon, but maybe he has a future as a lumberjack."  
  
"But that's Yahiko. What about you?"  
  
Kaoru looked at them both now, full in the face. "Mr. Hiko didn't say anything about   
what happened? At all, really?"  
  
"He won't say anything more than what the newspaper said. He drove you two there, and   
the robbers had already come and gone."  
  
She exhaled. "He said he knew who did it. That's what he wanted to talk to me about the   
first day of school when we were leaving his workshop, remember? He said he wanted to   
warn me. But he didn't tell me who it was that night, and I haven't seen him since then."  
  
"Do you think he was in on it?" Sano asked, concerned.  
  
"I thought about it, but I don't think so," Kaoru said slowly. "Why would he have tried to   
warn me at school, and why did he take us there afterward? Mom says she doesn't   
remember anything that happened that day. They hit her on the head pretty hard, so if she   
saw any of them in the first place, it must've been knocked back out of her. So if I want to   
know anything, I guess I'll have to ask him. Unless either of you has ever heard anything   
about someone called Battousai." Both of them shook their heads.   
  
In an attempt to brighten the mood, she asked them, "So, what's new at school? What   
kind of exciting mystery meats and pop quizzes have I missed?"  
  
"There's a new transfer student who got your desk in history class while you've been out."   
Sano scowled. Kaoru's history desk was next to his. "His hair is even redder and longer   
than Megumi's, but he wears it in a ponytail." He flipped a loose wing of Megumi's hair   
and she smiled a little wistfully at him, but he didn't notice, as always.  
  
"He acts kinda goofy when he's not being all quiet, but I think he's okay," Megumi   
defended the newcomer.  
  
"He's a total girly-man!" Sano scoffed. "He's in your home ec class, isn't he?"  
  
"The teacher says he has the best knifework she's ever seen. He can peel a daikon into   
this cool continuous paper scrolly thing in two minutes flat, and the other day he made   
the most awesome okonomiyaki--" Megumi's praise was interrupted by all three stomachs   
growling in chorus.  
  
Kaoru grinned despite herself. "I think it's time we got some ramen on the way home,"   
she said, and stood up. "So, what's the name of our new Iron Chef?"  
  
Sano pulled the fishbone-thingy from his jacket's pocket. He always had it with him   
somewhere, and the girls had never figured out what it was-- a comb? a toothpick? a   
weird version of the Darwin fish?-- and now he ineffectually ran one side through his hair   
before sticking the point of its head between his teeth. Around it, he drawled, "Iron Chef?   
I say we call him 'Rusty' and leave it at that."  
  
"His name is not Rusty," Megumi chided. "His name is Kenshin, which is a perfectly   
good name. Unlike 'Sanosuke', or we'd actually call you that sometime."  
  
Sano snorted. "Rusty, Kenshin, whatever, as long as he gives Kaoru her desk back."  
  
"And anyway, you shouldn't chew on that thing. Even normal people can choke on a   
fishbone, and that's big enough to kill a horse."  
  
Sano made a pelvic thrust and a whinnying sound before recollecting himself. "Hey, I'm   
insulted-- did you just call me normal people?"  
  
The three friends strolled together off the temple grounds, not noticing the small British   
car parked down the road from the gate, or the librarian watching them from inside it.  
  
-----  
  
(Okay, it's looking pretty obvious to me that this isn't going to be a straightforward   
retelling of either series, though it's going to draw heavily on both. Thanks to all the   
reviewers so far, esp. Jason M. Lee for pointing out that "Battousai" doesn't need an   
article. Where am I going and who put me into this handbasket? --wombat) 


	3. heart of the sword

Rurouni Kenshin belongs to Watsuki Nobuhiro. Buffy belongs to Joss Whedon. I'm just   
messin' around with them.   
  
Edodale   
(or, "Kaoru the Battousai-Slayer"?)   
By wombat   
  
Chapter 3  
  
  
Back at school, Kaoru felt like everyone was walking on eggshells around her. She'd   
missed two weeks of classes, but they were mostly the catch-up reviews of what they'd   
learned last year to remind them of everything they'd forgotten over the summer. The   
new classwork had really just started, so she hadn't fallen too far behind.  
  
When the lunch bell rang, she headed straight for the library wing. Mr. Hiko wasn't in his   
workshop, but as she'd suspected, its other door led to the main library. Megumi and   
Sano were already there, talking to him at the front desk. He was in full "I'm just a timid   
librarian" mode again, scrunched up into his chair and looking about half his actual size,   
but he straightened up a bit when he saw Kaoru coming toward them.  
  
In a low voice, she said to him, "I want to know just what you were talking about and   
who it was, because even if you're right and the police can't do anything, I'm going to   
find this Battousai guy and make him pay for killing my dad."  
  
"Just so. I had hoped to broach this subject in a more leisurely fashion, but as you say,   
events have dictated otherwise. Would you come along with me, please?" He stood up,   
signalling to a student aide to take his place at the desk.  
  
Back in the workshop, he shouldered a tray of damp grey lumps. All three of them followed   
him down the hall to a small room where despite the open window, the scent of wood smoke   
lingered in the air. He slid his tray into the kiln, then donned enormous hot mitts to take the   
lid off a large metal trashcan half-filled with burnt sawdust. With a pair of tongs, he   
rummaged through it to pull out pieces of pottery and drop them into a bucket of water,   
which hissed and simmered at each new addition. When he had finished, he drained the   
bucket into the sink and laid out the finished pieces. The raku glaze had taken on gorgeous   
peacock hues, glistening and shimmering on the drying rack. However, Kaoru was in no   
mood to admire them. "Well?" she demanded.  
  
Hiko waved them to sit down on a workbench while he closed the window, then leaned   
against the wall, setting the hot mitts aside. "Well. It's a story that began long ago, long   
before your time or mine...."  
  
---  
  
During the wars of the last century, a mighty warrior became possessed by an evil spirit   
of fire. Spears and arrows burst into flame and ordinary swords melted away before they   
could reach him; the touch of his hand left black burns on his enemies' flesh.  
  
Finally, a young student of the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu school vowed to stop him, setting   
out in mid-winter so the cold would help quench the fires. When the monster's own   
katana fell steaming into the snow, the boy took it up and killed him with it. And then,   
burned and bleeding, he took his enemy's weapons home as trophies.  
  
His master had warned him against the confrontation, but the boy had been too brave or   
foolish to listen. He had been a sweet, gentle youth, loved by everyone. But once he   
returned with those hellwrought blades, his character changed forever. He became proud   
and quarrelsome, killing others without provocation, and finally he was driven from his   
dojo and his village, with his proper name struck from his family's scroll.  
  
---  
  
Hiko took off his glasses and polished them on his shirt. "After that, he became known   
only as Battousai, the manslayer. He came here to the city and killed for the sheer joy of   
it, an angel of death whom everyone shunned and feared."  
  
"Tenshi muyo," Megumi murmured.  
  
Kaoru looked at her. "What?"  
  
"Oh, nothing."  
  
"After ten years," Hiko continued, "his old master came to the city and saw him as a   
passing shadow in the night. Battousai had not aged a day since he left the village. The   
katana drew life from those it killed and gave it to its wielder. In striking down the fiery   
demon with it, he had only destroyed the outer body, you see, and its evil poured up   
through the blade straight into his heart.  
  
"The other weapons he'd taken were also cursed. He'd already given some of them to a   
few lost souls who followed him for the promise of eternal life. So his master returned   
home, where he joined powers with a swordsmith and a priestess to make the sakabatou,   
which he brought back here to use against Battousai and his followers."  
  
"Didn't work very well, did it?" Kaoru snapped.  
  
"But it did, as far as anyone knew," Hiko said. "The Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu master wrote   
that when he struck them with the sakabatou, the evildoers vanished like dust, leaving   
only their cursed weapons behind. He gathered those up and brought them back to his village  
shrine for safekeeping. He gave the sakabatou into the hands of the shrine's priestess, who passed it   
down in her family, mother to daughter, until it came to the Kamiya family." He grimaced. "I   
would have found you more quickly if genealogies didn't pretend that daughters vanish from the   
earth when they get married."  
  
Sano chewed on his fishbone. "So now he's back? Wait, how did you know to come   
looking for the sakabatou anyway, and what does he want with it? And how do you know   
it's him?"  
  
"He had a cross-shaped scar on his face. He was never known to mark his victims, but   
this must be his way of telling us he's returned. The sakabatou is the only thing that can   
banish him again. As for why I set out on this quest-- do you remember the earthquake   
we had a few years ago?"  
  
"Yeah, but it was just a little one," Megumi said uncertainly.  
  
"It cracked the weapons' seal in the shrine. By the time we discovered the damage, the   
weapons were gone."  
  
"What do you mean, 'we'? You don't look like a priest to me." Kaoru folded her arms, not   
reassured at all by anything he'd said so far.  
  
"I'm not," Hiko said with a wry grin. "I'm the present master of the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu  
school. I also have a degree in library science and a sideline in pottery. It pays to be   
versatile in today's economy."  
  
"As fascinating as this career-day talk is," Kaoru said, "I still want to know how we can   
find Battousai and what we can do when that happens. How many followers does he   
have, minus the guys my dad took out before--" Her voice broke, but she refused to let   
herself cry in front of everyone. Megumi rubbed her back comfortingly as Sano glared   
at Hiko, who did his best to look meek again.  
  
When Kaoru felt steadier, Hiko said, "The attackers at the dojo are a sign that   
another of his followers is back. One of them could reanimate the dead as crude puppets,   
but they remained dead bodies. But the wielders of the cursed weapons had never died,   
though I don't know what the sakabatou did to them. At the height of their numbers, there   
were at least five and as many as ten. Not all of the weapons were used, though all of   
them were recovered. Now that all of them are gone again..." He shrugged helplessly.  
  
"Great," Kaoru said. "So there could be ten maniacs out there and the entire cast of   
'Thriller', and there's nothing we can do to stop them without the sakabatou?"  
  
"There's nothing we can do to kill them," Hiko corrected. "We can keep them from   
creating more corpse puppets by patrolling the non-cremated cemetaries at night, and we   
can ward them off from entering certain buildings by putting ofuda on the doors."  
  
Megumi beamed. "Ooh! Ofuda! I can do those! 'Aku ryou taisan' and stuff like that,   
right? We covered that in my miko training at the shrine."  
  
"Excellent," Hiko said, looking relieved. Glancing at Sano, he said, "I suppose it would   
be too much to hope that you're a swordsmith?"  
  
The fishbone whipped out of Sano's pocket again and flicked straight at Hiko, who   
caught it. "Check it out," Sano said proudly. "Made it in shop last year when the teacher   
wasn't looking."  
  
With genuine admiration, Hiko ran his fingers down the edges of the fine bones. "This is   
a truly nasty piece of work. Cut from a single piece of metal, was it? Ouch!" He whipped   
his hand away and sucked a bleeding fingertip. Around it, he said, "You've kept the bones   
perfectly parallel throughout, and they're really quite sharp on this side."  
  
In a jumble, Kaoru and Megumi protested at Sano, "You've been combing your hair   
with something that sharp? And walking around with it in your mouth, too! Do you want   
some nice sharp scissors to run around with while you're at it?"  
  
"Girls, girls, there's plenty more where that came from," he grinned. "I've got a whole set.   
The ones I bring out most of the time are usually the wood or bone ones. Needed the shop   
tools for that one, though."  
  
"Well then, we're better off than I could have dared to hope." Hiko handed the fishbone   
back. "We don't have the sakabatou, but we should be able to make smaller weapons that   
will do them some harm. If I'd thought it would be stolen before I found you, I would   
have asked our village elders to prepare something, but there's no time to wait for them   
now.  
  
"First of all, the weapons can't be made of iron or steel. Those metals won't hurt them.   
Silver would be best, but perhaps we can make do with copper or wood.  
  
"Secondly, the part that strikes them can have a point, but not an edge. I believe it's to do   
with showing the gods that we bear no grudge against the human bodies the evil spirit has   
taken, or the human souls that it replaced."  
  
"As long as we don't have to keep resharpening a silver edge," Sano said, "because that'd   
be a royal pain. It's a good excuse, anyway. How about the third thing? Is there a third   
thing?"  
  
"A third thing," Hiko said, thoughtfully. "No physical descriptions of them survive, but   
the blades of their weapons are pitch-black. You can recognize them by that, if nothing   
else. Don't let them strike you, or they'll feed on your life force. But even more importantly,   
don't use their own weapons against them, or you'll become possessed as well. And   
meanwhile, I believe these should be finished." He put his hot mitts back on to take the tray   
back out of the kiln. The three friends leaped off the workbench as he turned around to set it   
down there. This batch of pottery wasn't nearly as spectacular as the quenched raku ware. In   
fact, all of these pieces looked exactly the same as before they went in: grey lumps, only   
smaller and paler.  
  
With his hand still in a mitt, Hiko picked up one lump and smacked it against the tray. It   
broke open, hatching a mouthwatering smell. "Cornish game hens baked in clay," he said,   
dumping the contents onto a raku plate. "Would any of you like one?"  
  
---  
  
Several Cornish game hens later, Kaoru felt much better. She stacked her empty plate on   
Megumi's. Sano was still licking the juices off his. Hiko checked his wristwatch. "It's   
nearly time for your classes to resume. I do hope you'll remember this time to stop by the   
library at the end of the day?" He said this last sentence to Kaoru rather tentatively, with   
more regret than reproach. She nodded, and he smiled.  
  
Outside the kiln room, they split up; Megumi had biology class at the other end of the   
building, and the other two were off to history to reclaim Kaoru's desk. When they were   
halfway up the stairs, they heard someone coming up behind them and looked back, but it   
wasn't Megumi, it was the aide from the library. Sano poked Kaoru with his elbow and   
hissed, "Come on! Run for it!"  
  
"But--" He was already running ahead of her; exasperated, she caught up to him at the   
classroom door, but he kept going until he slid behind his desk. She sat down beside him   
and he flashed a grin of triumph at her, then at the door, where the library aide was   
coming into view. Belatedly, Kaoru remembered Sano's description of her desk's   
usurper: a girly-man with long red hair in a ponytail?   
  
She supposed it matched up with the boy walking in now, but he looked nothing like the   
tall, wiry Bill Weasley type she'd expected. His hair was dark red, brightening nearly to   
gold where the sunlight struck it through the window, and it was tied back to trail over a   
slightly faded shirt whose color she couldn't even identify-- fuschia? puce? she knew   
she'd seen it before in a nail polish bottle-- and which should have clashed horribly, but   
somehow didn't. The hems of his jeans were ragged, and a hole in his sneakers showed   
socks that were nearly the same color as his shirt, but not quite. He didn't look much   
taller than she was, and he had fine, delicate features that were faintly clouded with   
bewilderment as he reached her. "Oro?" he said.  
  
"I told you before, it's her desk," Sano said. "Find another one."  
  
The room was still only half-full. The newcomer put his bookbag at the desk in front of   
Kaoru and looked at Sano with mild blue-violet eyes. "This must be Miss Kamiya-Summers,   
of whom you've spoken," he said quietly. "Would you do me the honor of introducing me to   
her?"  
  
Sano rolled his eyes. "Okay, okay, if it'll make you shut up. Kaoru, this is Kenshin.   
Kenshin, this is Kaoru. Are you happy?"  
  
Kaoru extended her hand to meet Kenshin's, but instead of shaking it, he held it in his and   
bent low toward it. His mouth didn't quite touch her skin, but she could feel his warm   
breath and the touch of his hair for an instant, before he straightened up and let her go.   
"I am at your service. Please accept my condolences for your recent loss," he said, and sat   
down at his new desk, facing forward.  
  
"See, I told you he was a weirdo," Sano stage-whispered to her. "You'd better close your   
mouth before bugs fly in."  
  
Belatedly, Kaoru snapped her slightly gaping mouth shut, still staring at the brightly-clad   
shoulderblades in front of her.  
  
-----  
  
(This chapter is mostly infodump on how the background setup diverges from both   
sources. And Megumi just up and volunteered to be a miko as part of the whole Willow   
package. I'd feel better about this if I had more solid background info on miko-- it looks   
like it's hereditary through the female line, the same way I had the silver sakabatou   
passed down to Kaoru's father-- and Shinto in general, because I feel funny about using   
people's religions as a plot device. Meanwhile, the black soul-sucking weapons were   
inspired by Michael Moorcock's Elric series, now that I think about it. Next chapter   
should be home life again, followed by the first night patrol. Hoping to goose the pace   
back up or the entire project is going to take forever @_@ )  
  
(Fresh note: S/R'ed "Zanza" to "Sano" throughout, because the former just keeps looking   
funny to me; also added dashes as internal section-divisions, not just extra spaces. Fixed the   
raku-finish details. Need to come up with a word that's shorter to type than "people using   
cursed weapons"-- they're not classical vampires, but they're not the Mouseketeers either.   
Don't think I have Kenshin's voice down yet-- trying to make his diction old-fashioned and   
terribly polite, but instead he feels more like mini-Giles. Oh well, at least I have the excuse   
that he and Hiko came from the same place.) 


	4. megitsune

Rurouni Kenshin and Buffy are not mine. Watsuki Nobuhiro and Joss Whedon would   
probably have a cow or four if they knew what I was doing with their respective   
intellectual properties.   
  
Edodale   
(it's a lame title, but I still can't think of anything better)   
By wombat   
  
Chapter 4  
  
"So what's the story on him anyway?" Kaoru peered through the frosted window between   
the workshop and the library. A bright pink blur was sitting at Hiko's desk again, on duty   
for after-school study hall.  
  
Hiko was crouched at his potter's wheel behind her, shaping the long neck of a vase. "On   
Kenshin?" he asked, not lifting his eyes from his work. "Transfer student. His records   
haven't arrived yet, but he seems a good enough lad. Very quiet, with beautiful manners,   
and he's been an excellent library aide. I believe he has another job in the evenings, so he   
does his homework while he's here during the day."  
  
"Are all of his shirts like that?"  
  
"As it seems to be his only shirt, I believe that would be a true statement. I've never seen   
him wear anything else. But while it's a bit the worse for wear, his clothing is always   
perfectly clean and neat." Hiko shrugged, slicing the vase away from the wheel and   
lifting it to a drying rack.  
  
Megumi slipped in from the hallway. "Kaoru, I stopped by the gym first to see if you   
were at cheerleading practice, but you weren't there. Obviously. Being here and all."  
  
"They said that since I didn't come to the second and third rounds of tryouts, I wasn't   
eligible to be on the team. But I should really be concentrating on more important things   
anyway. Do you need special supplies to make ofuda?"  
  
"I wrote out all of these during math class. Do we need more?" She brought out a small   
sheaf of them from her bookbag.  
  
Hiko's stern expression was marred by the smudge of clay on his nose. "While defeating   
Battousai is certainly important, I must insist that none of you neglect your educations."  
  
Megumi looked hurt. "I did all the problem sets for this month already anyway. But are   
these enough, do you think? Where should we put them?"  
  
"You'll need one for every outside door of your house, and perhaps the windows as well.   
We ought to tuck some around the school entrances as well. Will Mr. Harris be joining   
us?"  
  
"Sano said he wanted to get some supplies first. The SCA chapter at UC Edodale had a   
garage sale over the summer, and he bought some of their old stuff to play with. I don't   
think he's hurt himself with it yet."  
  
A tumbling clank thumped down outside. "Ow!" Sano said, and opened the hall door by   
pushing the box of supplies off his foot. "I haven't figured all this stuff out yet, especially   
this cranky gear set, but something in here must be useful."  
  
Under the cover of Sano's voice, the light knocks on the other side of the room were   
barely audible, but all of them noticed when Kenshin opened the library door. "I beg your   
pardon, but I thought I heard a noise-- oro!" he exclaimed. They all followed his startled   
gaze to the interlocked chunk of metal Sano was still holding up.  
  
"Um..." Sano said.  
  
As if in a trance, Kenshin reached out. Sano shrugged and handed the thing to him. He   
rapidly reoriented it, pushing a gear or two back into place and checking for grit between   
their teeth. "Crossbow mechanism," he explained. "The bow lathe goes through this slot   
in front. The bowstring should thread behind the catch here and cock back with the crank,   
though a pull lever is usually faster. The bolts are loaded along the stock, with a target-  
sight down at the end, and the release trigger would be over here. Are the other parts in   
the box?"  
  
"Um..."  
  
Megumi quickly said, "Oh, this is all just scrap metal he's planning to melt down for an   
art project."  
  
Kenshin looked a little crestfallen and handed it back. His voice, too, fell back into polite   
circumlocution. "Oro. If you don't mind my saying so, it seems a shame to destroy things   
which a craftsman took so much care to create. But if there's no further use for them, it's   
probably just as well. I apologize for intruding." He disappeared back into the library   
again.  
  
"Well, that explains it," Sano said, settling back onto his haunches. "He's an SCA type.   
No wonder he talks funny."  
  
Hiko leaned forward and took the crossbow mechanism from him again. "Be that as it   
may, this sounds like one of our better options. Should we ask him to help reassemble it,   
do you think?"  
  
"No!" Sano immediately said, and Megumi bit her lip but didn't say anything.  
  
Kaoru slowly shook her head. "I don't think so. This is bad enough as it is. We shouldn't   
get people involved in this who don't have to be. I don't even feel right about getting you   
two mixed up in this," she added to her friends.  
  
"We want to help. We can't leave you alone with this, can we?"  
  
Thoughtfully, Hiko examined the mechanism. "Do you wish me to speak to your mother   
and brother on your behalf, then?"  
  
Kaoru blinked. "Why are you asking me?"  
  
"Because in a certain light, as your father's heir to the Kamiya Kasshin Ryuu school, you   
are now the head of your family. We already know Battousai isn't interested in killing   
your mother, or he would have done so already. He may no longer have any interest in   
any of you now that he has the sakabatou, but if he does, he'll come for you first."  
  
"I don't want to scare Mom or Yahiko if I don't have to. I guess he might still take them   
hostage...."  
  
"But he doesn't have a reason anymore," Megumi said. "At least, not that we know of. It's   
not like Kaoru is the only person who can use the sakabatou against him if we get it back,   
right?"  
  
"Technically, no. But she has the best right to use it, on several counts. Meanwhile, it   
looks as if the other crossbow parts are in here after all, if these bits of wood at the   
bottom are as I hope. I doubt we'll be able to build properly aerodynamic bolts by tonight,   
but let's begin with these chopsticks and a pencil-sharpener."  
  
---  
  
Kaoru pushed the rice around in her bowl, trying not to look at the empty place at their   
dinner table. "Mom?"  
  
"Yes, sweetie?" Joyce's wounds had healed without outward scars, but she still looked   
tired and careworn. Kaoru and Yahiko were far too young to take their father's place at   
the dojo, so it remained shuttered and empty. Joyce had started work at the Akabeko   
instead, leaving her exhausted by the end of the day. Nevertheless, she summoned a smile   
for her daughter. "What is it?"  
  
"I'm going out to a movie tonight with Sano and Megumi. Is that okay?"  
  
"It's not anything weird or violent, I hope."  
  
"No, of course not. You know me, nothing but wholesome family entertainment."  
  
Joyce looked slightly skeptical, but didn't protest. "Just be careful. Do you need a ride to   
the theatre?"  
  
"They'll come pick me up in about an hour. We'll just walk." With an effort, Kaoru   
finished off the last of her rice. She hadn't been hungry at all in the first place, and now it   
felt like her stomach was nervously bunching up into one big onigiri. "Yahiko, do you   
want my fish? I can't eat any more."  
  
Yahiko silently took and ate it. He'd been very quiet recently, except for the daily noise   
of his shinai denting the tree out back. But when asked, he never wanted to talk about   
anything, so all Kaoru and her mother could do was wait him out.  
  
"Are we all done now? Help me clear the table, kids. Whose turn is it to wash up?"  
  
---  
  
Sano and Megumi came by just before sunset. As soon as they were clear of the house,   
Kaoru asked, "Where's Mr. Hiko?"  
  
"He said he'll meet us by the cemetery," Sano said. "He dropped us off around the corner   
from here. Megumi was all squeezed into the back with what looked like the Marquis de   
Sade's gardening tools."  
  
"I wonder if shielding the weapon blades with aluminum foil would work," Megumi   
mused. "I mean, is it just that they're immune to iron, or that silver is the only thing that   
will hurt them? Who knew fighting the undead could get this expensive? Though it's not   
like we can get a set of monogrammed sterling shuriken from Tiffany's anyway."  
  
"Don't tell me we sharpened all those wooden chopsticks for nothing," Sano said. "I   
brought my best pointy fishbones, too."  
  
"There he is," Kaoru said, quickening her pace. Hiko's car was pulled up just inside the   
cemetery gates, and he had already unloaded Megumi's seatmates onto the top of the   
wall. "What are all of these, anyway?"  
  
Hiko surveyed them slowly, and then his armory. "Unfortunately for us, the black blades   
used by our chief opponents are live steel, and will cut through most of the wood or silver   
weapons we can use against them. I do not advise a direct confrontation with them at this   
time." He held each of their gazes in turn until they nodded, one by one.  
  
"But in case you should meet with them, you can catch the blade and hold it off with a   
hachiwara or a sai." He moved from the two- and three-pronged daggers to the crossbar-   
bladed spears."If we'd had the crossbow ready in time, these kamayari would have been   
good for holding them off at a distance while firing, but that would require a two-person   
team.  
  
"I think we'll more likely meet with their flesh puppets first. They'll have much worse   
skills and weapons, if any at all. The students' bokken and shinai at the dojo didn't   
damage them much, but I don't know whether steel will cut them as well as silver." He   
pulled out one last item from his car trunk before shutting it, and hung the katana at his   
waist beneath his billowing trenchcoat. His expression was a strange blend of grimness   
and glee that would have made any proper librarian drop dead on the spot.  
  
"I was able to obtain some spools of silver wire from a jeweller's supply shop-- at a   
ruinous cost relative to a librarian's salary, I might add-- and used them to completely   
wrap my blade. It won't fit into the saya this way, of course, but the cutting edge is   
protected by the wire."  
  
Kaoru took a long look at the sword, completely encased in tight gleaming coils. "It looks   
like a Slinky ate it."  
  
"But at the moment," Hiko continued, "I think our best tactic may be metaphysical   
instead. Stab Megumi's ofuda into the flesh puppets with the chopsticks. If that isn't   
enough to exorcise them, we'll go to Plan B." From his glove compartment, he pulled out   
a bottle of sake and a box of bite-sized onigiri.  
  
Sano blinked at him in the twilight. "And Plan B is we have a picnic? Why do they have   
pine needles sticking out of them?"  
  
"Ooh," Megumi said. "Do you think it'll work? I mean, I feel pretty good about Inari, but   
I don't know how much Inari likes me back, and this is awfully informal."  
  
"Well, if your patron won't accept the offering and protect us, we'll have to fall back on   
Plan C."  
  
---  
  
The full moon was beginning to rise through the trees as they walked around the   
cemetery grounds. Tightly gripping the hilt of the hachiwara stuck through his belt, Sano   
groused, "I cannot believe that Plan C is Flaming Rice Balls of Death."  
  
"Plan B could still work. At the shrine, the stuff we usually offer Inari is rice, salt, water,   
fir twigs, and sake. This would have all of them in one tidy package, kind of like the fast-  
food Happy Meal for kami."  
  
"And maybe Inari will like them better if they're all toasty. Anyway, I guess the zombie   
guys should burn if they're not too soggy," Kaoru said. "Or does anyone know if   
embalming fluid is flammable?"  
  
"I think that falls under the category of things I never wanted to know in the first place   
and will forget as soon as possible if I learn them by accident, but thank you for asking."  
  
At the head of the line, Hiko stopped, causing everyone else to nearly miss running into   
each other. He hushed them, pointing beyond a small cluster of trees ahead. In the   
moonlit glade, one of the graves was heaving up from within itself, a tattered hand   
reaching up through the sod.  
  
"I will never watch Caddyshack the same way again," Sano declared. "Should we start   
going through the alphabet? Who's our volunteer to try Plan A first?"  
  
The creature had its head and both arms out now, but was still struggling to free its torso.   
Kaoru ran forward and stabbed a chopstick into it, pinning an ofuda against one jellied   
eyeball. It stopped moving, but remained frozen in place.  
  
The others caught up with her almost immediately. "Did it work? I've never field-tested   
them before, you know. Next time I'd better use waterproof ink. It's smearing all ickily."   
The creature twitched in emphasis. "Um, I don't think it's really truly dead yet," Megumi   
said more nervously. "Hand me a rice ball?"  
  
Hiko had already poured sake into the onigiri box, soaking the contents. He plucked one   
out and handed it to her; she made a brief chant over it and slapped it against the   
creature's forehead. The corpse immediately sagged backwards, collapsing like a dropped   
puppet. Megumi looked happy. "Inari must like me back after all."  
  
Sano leaned to Kaoru's ear. "Fill me in on this Inari business, will you?"  
  
"You're kidding, right? You know, the fox kami who she does the miko gig for?"   
  
Standing between them and Megumi, Hiko muttered back at Kaoru, "For whom."  
  
She ignored that. "Patron of rice harvests, swordsmiths, all kinds of good stuff. Don't you   
pay any attention when you go to the shrines?"  
  
"Never been to one." Sano flipped a fishbone in the air. "You know why I make these   
things? I call them my Nietzsche Fish."  
  
"You can call them your sweet babboo if you want to, as long as they work as well as her   
way."  
  
Megumi was examining the body more closely. "Oh, Kaoru. It has an X cut into its face. I   
hope it wasn't one of your father's students."  
  
"We went to their funerals. Most of them were cremated. And you know, this would   
probably be so much easier if more people would seriously consider that option when   
making their funeral plans, but no--"  
  
Hiko swept them back to silence with a gesture. In a low voice, he said, "There may be   
more of them up ahead. I can hear something walking through the shrubbery."  
  
"Where?" Kaoru followed his pointing finger. "Oh," she said, and was sorry she'd asked.  
  
In fact, there were several somethings, perhaps five or six of them. Everyone exploded   
into motion: a blur of crackling paper as Kaoru stabbed into the squishy resistance of   
rotting flesh; Megumi screaming her invocation to Inari; Sano striking a match to light   
the protruding bundle of pine needles like a fuse and hurling the sake-soaked rice into a   
zombie's face as a mask of flame. And a short distance from them, Hiko drawing his   
sword and casually whipping it through another creature's body, exploding it like a water   
balloon.  
  
Another minute or two of this and suddenly, it was all over. Hiko rejoined them, blotting   
the blood from the wire-wrapped crevices around his blade with a fine linen   
handkerchief. When he was finished, the bloody handkerchief went into a plastic bag to   
keep his pocket tidy. Megumi was in awe. "Wow. You didn't get any of their guts on you   
at all. How do you keep your coat that clean?"  
  
He still had that unlibrarian look on his face, only more so. "Years of practice," he said.   
"I'm going to take a good look at what's left of these fellows. Wait here." He walked   
around the clearing, bending to examine each pile of remains, but remained well in sight.  
  
Relaxing a little, Kaoru turned to Sano. "So, how are your fishies?"  
  
"Guess they'll have to come out and play next time. I could make them out of silver if I   
had the materials."  
  
"We could try electroplating them," Megumi suggested. "That would be lots cheaper.   
How are we on the rest of our ammo?"  
  
"Let's see, we still have plenty of ofuda, but only a few rice balls left. Sano, you didn't   
just eat one, did you?"  
  
He spat out a pine needle. "I skipped dinner, okay? But they're getting a little soggy in   
there."  
  
Kaoru poked a finger into the box. "Yeah, they're starting to come apart. That's not good.   
Megumi, do you think Inari would mind getting his rice as mochi? It would hold together   
better next time."  
  
"Is there going to be a next time? Well, we still have to see what happens this time."   
Megumi contemplated the soggy rice. "Mochi has about the same basic daily nutrition as   
real entire rice, but I don't really know if Inari would be okay with it. If I'd known Mr.   
Hiko wanted to try something like this, I would've made kitsune-zushi instead."  
  
They looked around them again. Like the rice, the grass around them had turned soggy,   
but not from sake. "This is a real mess," Sano said. "I guess there really are advantages to   
the Flaming Rice Balls of Death-- no cleanup afterward, just a lingering cafeteria smell."  
  
"Ew."  
  
Hiko was at the very edge of the clearing now, half-obscured by the shadow of the trees.   
"It looks pretty spooky over there. Think he'll be okay?"  
  
"Megumi, you realize you're asking this about a man we've just seen Cuisinarting   
opponents so thoroughly that there are no remaining chunks of ass large enough to kick."  
  
"Well, okay, what I was really wondering was are we okay out here, what with running   
low on kami chow. That mostly leaves us with ofuda, and weapons that are mostly meant   
for blocking other weapons instead of stopping someone who's trying to bludgeon you   
with what's left of their arms."  
  
"Good point." Sano pulled the hachiwara from his belt anyway. Kaoru tested the balance   
of her sai, holding it up by the end of the long main blade, then returned it to her side and   
shook more chopsticks out of her sleeve in case she needed to throw them, with or   
without ofuda.  
  
Suddenly, two more creatures burst from the shrubbery, moving fast. But even as Hiko   
raced back to their side, the three friends watched in amazement as they hurtled right past   
them and back among the trees. "Whoo," Sano said. "We must have scared them good."  
  
But Megumi shook her head. "The ones we just fought didn't get scared at all. They just   
kept fighting like machines, and how would they have talked to these guys? They're sure   
going somewhere in a hurry, though."  
  
"And I think we'd best follow." Without waiting for agreement, Hiko raced in pursuit,   
trenchcoat billowing out behind him. Megumi made a little squeak as Kaoru yanked her   
arm, all of them running into the night.  
  
---  
  
When they caught up with Hiko, he had stopped at the edge of another clearing and was   
casually leaning against a tree. He extended one arm to block them from tumbling into   
the moonlight and betraying themselves. "This is where they were coming, I think. Those   
few we encountered must have run into us by accident."  
  
They were at the top of a ridge, with a good view of the tumult below. The clearing was   
really a wide, dry gully, narrowing toward the opposite side, where the creatures'   
attention was focused. At least ten of them were clambering and snarling in a tight bunch,   
but it was obvious there had been more of them before. Their quarry was all but   
obscured, its desperate defense visible only by inference from the attackers' movements.   
A zombie arm arced out, severed at the elbow, but crawled back toward the fray.  
  
"Shouldn't we help?" Kaoru whispered urgently, leaning forward.  
  
Sano pulled her back into the shadows. "I don't think 'we' can really do anything unless   
Hiko wants to take on all of them by himself."  
  
"Oh, not by myself precisely." He drew the half-empty bottle of sake from another pocket   
of his trenchcoat, poured in the remaining sludge of loose rice and pine needles, and   
stuffed his bloody handkerchief into its neck before holding it out to Megumi. "Inari no   
miko, if you would be so kind...?"  
  
A little doubtfully, she placed her hands on the bottle and closed her eyes, lips moving   
silently, then stepped back again. Hiko lit a match, touched it to the handkerchief, and   
hurled the bottle into the gully. It shattered like a fiery, glittering dandelion puff. The   
glass and flames flew thickly into the attackers alone, their limbs flailing about in a last   
attempt to reach their prey. Poised in a small bubble of protection in their midst, a lone   
figure stood peering up at their ridge, the long slender shape of a katana trailing from one   
hand. As they descended into the gully, the defender came to meet them, carefully   
walking around the burning carcasses still flopping about in their own embers. A wind   
had picked up in the sky, and clouds were dimming the moon.  
  
"Damn, you're lucky we were here," Sano called out at a distance.  
  
There was a slight pause, a few paces walked closer together until the low reply could be   
heard clearly. "I am very much obliged to you for your assistance, Mr. Harris, and indeed   
to all of you. Truly, I don't deserve to--" The figure swayed, and leaned heavily on the   
sword.  
  
"Hey," Megumi said, reaching out. "You're hurt, aren't you? Should we take you to a   
hospital? Can you get home by yourself?"  
  
"And how do you know my name, anyway?" Sano asked.  
  
As all of them converged, the moon streamed free of the clouds. Kenshin smiled at them   
gently, his face still partly shadowed by a lacy veil of his own blood. "I regret that I am   
not as memorable to you as Miss Kamiya-Summers," he said, and collapsed at their feet.  
  
Megumi knelt to roll him face-up, off his sword. He lay unmoving in her lap, his shirt   
dappling from pink to red. "Oh no, he's passed out. He's still breathing okay, but I don't   
know how much blood he's already lost. We have to help him." She looked up into the   
sudden silence. "Don't we?"  
  
So she saw what the other three were already fixed on. Kaoru had lifted Kenshin's sword   
and shown it to Hiko, who had drawn out a fresh handkerchief to clean it. Even polished   
free of blood and ash, the surface shining smooth in the bright moonlight, the metal was   
jet-black.  
  
Hiko traced a finger along the braided hilt, up to the single jewel that made up the   
kashira, the cap at its end. "This is one of the demon blades, the soul-destroyers," he said.   
"And if my eyes do not deceive me in this light, this ruby marks it as the sword of   
Battousai."  
  
"I knew it! Never liked him in the first place."  
  
"Sano, he can't be Battousai," Megumi protested. "I mean, come on, just look at him! Mr.   
Hiko said those people could only be hurt by the sakabatou, didn't you? And why would   
those creatures be attacking him if you said one of his followers made them?"  
  
"The sakabatou was designed to banish them back to hell, but perhaps we have our   
answer as to whether they can be hurt by anything else. Those creatures are not made of   
steel, after all, just flesh and blood. As for the rest, I imagine we'd best ask him." Having   
plunged Battousai's sword into the ground to stand upright, Hiko was already unwinding   
a length of silver wire from his own. "Wrap this around his wrists," he told Megumi, and   
then, "No, wait a moment." Thoughtfully, he poked Kenshin's limp arm with the exposed   
steel tip of his blade. It cut him easily, adding another trickle of blood.  
  
"I told you," Megumi said. "Here, take your stupid wire back. See, he's human. A real,   
live, very hurt human. So what do we do with him? Do we just clean him up and take him   
home? Maybe Battousai sent the Evil Dead after him to get his sword back. We can't just   
leave him here."  
  
"Oh yes we can. I'm in favor of leaving him here. Anyone else on the leaving-here   
bandwagon?"  
  
Kaoru had not spoken in all this time. Hiko put a hand on her shoulder. "I think it should   
be your decision."  
  
"I think-- " she said, and stopped.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"I think it's getting really late. We should go home before our parents get worried."  
  
"But we can't just leave him here like this! Look," Megumi said, planting a crumpled   
ofuda on him, "he's not evil, he's not undead! He can't possibly be Battousai!" Kenshin   
stirred a little at the name, his chest heaving in a weak cough beneath the slip of paper.  
  
Hiko shook his head and removed his trenchcoat, loosely folding it over one arm and   
handing it to Kaoru before bending to sling Kenshin over one shoulder. "Megumi, bring   
his sword. When we reach my car, give me all your remaining ofuda. As his wounds   
don't appear life-threatening, I'll take him back to school and lock him into my workshop.   
Meet me there in the morning."  
  
-----  
  
Ooogety. Finally worked out most of the logistics of what's going on with Kenshin and   
his friends from the past. Unfortunately, none of it is going to make it into this chapter,   
which is already too dang huge.  
  
Big fat disclaimer: practically everything I know about Shinto has been acquired through   
recent online research. I've been trying to walk the line between keeping details accurate   
enough to not be glaringly wrong, versus being just accurate enough that the divergences   
are deeply impious. I have no idea whether I've fallen off or which side, and offer   
apologies to anyone whom I may have inadvertently offended by misappropriating their   
religion.  
  
SCA: the Society for Creative Anachronism, a medieval recreation group. See sca.org for   
more information.  
  
Inari: Kaoru explained the basics, though technically it's not true that Inari IS a fox any   
more than the Holy Spirit IS a dove; they're just almost always linked. More info can be   
found online, frex http://community-2.webtv.net/TerMcC/Inari/ , which has lots of   
excellent-looking further links.  
  
kitsune-zushi: deep-fried tofu stuffed with sweet rice. The color and shape are   
reminiscent of fox ears. Supposedly, Inari really digs kitsune-zushi. The more common   
name for them actually is inari-zushi.  
  
Do not attempt Flaming Rice Balls of Death at home. They have not been tested on   
animals, minerals, or vegetables and are purely hypothetical as of this juncture. 


	5. acquainted with the night

Rurouni Kenshin and Buffy are not mine. Watsuki Nobuhiro and Joss Whedon would   
probably have a cow or four if they knew what I was doing with their respective   
intellectual properties.   
  
Edodale (or, like, whatever)   
By wombat   
  
Chapter 5.1 (revised and expanded; see endnote if you wanna)  
  
Kaoru bolted out of bed to shut off her alarm clock. She had set it much earlier than   
usual, and daylight was still only a greyish sort of hope on the horizon. Forcing her   
sleepy legs step by step, she got herself to the shower and just stood under the hot water   
for a few minutes, waiting to really wake up. Her father's death. The sakabatou.   
Battousai's sword. Kenshin. They were all connected, but how?  
  
She shook her head sharply, sending water flying against the wall tiles. Why couldn't this   
be a bad dream, something her parents could soothe away with hot cocoa or tea and a   
childhood lullaby? Those carefree days were gone forever, sinking under the weight of   
black and silver swords. As the heir to the Kamiya Kasshin Ryuu school, she had a duty   
now to protect her family. She had to be strong for their sake, or she might lose her   
mother and Yahiko as well.  
  
Exhaling a shaky sigh, she gathered her wet hair and reached for the shampoo. At least   
here in the shower, there was no one else to see the tears washing away from her face,   
lost in the foamy water and disappearing forever.  
  
Afterward, she left a note on the kitchen counter about going to school early. It wasn't   
really that far a walk, despite the schoolbus zoning, and the easy, repetitive motion made   
her feel better. When she stepped through the grassy medians, her footprints left tracks in   
the dew. Birds were starting to stir and flutter, chirping in the neighborhood trees, and the   
eastern sky was now an indeterminate color between rose and violet that seemed familiar   
somehow. After a moment, she grinned in recollection-- Kenshin's socks!-- and then   
immediately slumped her shoulders beneath her backpack straps. She wondered how   
badly he'd been hurt the night before. She wondered if she'd have to kill him.  
  
---  
  
The hallway door to Hiko's workshop was locked and the lights were dim, so Kaoru went   
around to the main library entrance. Hiko was at his desk, tending his katana with oil and   
a soft cloth. He looked tired. Unwound silver wire lay crumpled in a crinkly heap like   
instant ramen. Wiping the blade to a final satiny sheen, he slid it back into its saya and   
reached back to store it behind a bookcase.  
  
"Hey there. The convenience store down the street was open, so I got some hot tea for   
everyone. Take one, I already drank mine." She set down the little cardboard box with a   
cup anchored by a slot at each corner. "There's a bag of green tea mochi balls in the   
middle, too. They're almost as much fun as chocolate-covered coffee beans, but not as   
crunchy. Thought they'd make you feel a little perkier, anyway. Were there any problems   
with...?" She jerked her chin at the workshop door, not wanting to attach a definite name   
to him, whether Kenshin or Battousai.  
  
Hiko sipped his tea gratefully, shaking his head in response to her question. "By the time   
we arrived here, he was slightly conscious enough that I could half-drag him on his feet   
instead of carrying him. However, he's been asleep on my worktable since then, or was   
when I last checked. None of his wounds seems truly serious. Scalp cuts always bleed   
enough to look worse than they really are. The rest are just surface lacerations and   
bruising; no broken bones or anything of that sort."  
  
"After all those zombies were moshing with him?" Kaoru fidgeted. "Do you think this   
could be a setup so we'd bring him in here?"  
  
"I don't know what to think just yet. But I've put ofuda on both sides of the doors, just in   
case."  
  
"You didn't leave anything dangerous in there with him, did you?"  
  
He flexed his leg to make a clattering cardboardy thunk as his foot struck under his desk.   
"Sano's box is down here. And then there's this." He stood, stretched up to the very top of   
the bookcase, and brought down the black sword.  
  
In full light, its dark blade was so reflective that it had a strange illusion of translucence,   
like obsidian. The kashira was set with a large ruby, as Hiko had noted last night, and   
more jewels were set in the round hand-guard, the tsuba. Kaoru touched them, one by   
one: sapphire, emerald, amethyst, and topaz, all four gems' facets winking against the   
iron arabesques that surrounded them. Hiko had already taped several ofuda along the   
sword's length. "I suppose it has its own saya somewhere," he said, "but for now, this will   
have to do." On the other side of the door, the worktable creaked. Hiko quickly replaced   
the sword to its former place, well out of Kaoru's normal reach, or Kenshin's.   
  
They heard the scuff of feet landing on the floor, then the soft sounds of a halting limp.   
Next came the sound of water in the workshop sink, run from the tap and sloshed about   
for some minutes. Finally Kenshin came to the door, tapped lightly, and opened it. The   
ofuda fastened across the jamb fluttered to the carpet.   
  
After washing himself, he had put on one of Hiko's cleaner smocks, only lightly smeared   
with clay, and rolled the sleeves well up into wide cuffs. He had also evidently tied a   
string around his waist to keep the hem from trailing, as the top bloused down in a long   
overlap like a girl's kimono. Below that, his memorable socks were slightly spattered   
with blood. The rest of his customary wardrobe was bundled in an elbow, tightly wrung   
together but still soaked through. "I beg your pardon if I'm interrupting anything, but I   
can't seem to find a good spot to hang up my clothes."  
  
"They'll dry quickly enough in the kiln room. No, stay here with Kaoru and I'll take them   
there."  
  
Kenshin's face had only the ghost of its usual courteous smile. His eyes were downcast   
and dark with fatigue, and a bruise was starting to bloom high on his forehead around a   
short, jagged wound. Almost shyly, he ducked his head to peer into the smock pockets   
until he pulled out one of Sano's wooden fishbones to comb out his damp hair. Wincing   
from tangles and half-healed injuries, he said, "Miss Kamiya-Summers, I'm very grateful   
that all of you helped me last night. If there's some way I can repay your kindness--"  
  
"Stop calling me that."  
  
"I regret if I have given any offense." He returned the fishbone to the pocket for a bit of   
string to tie his hair back. "Miss Kaoru, then?"  
  
"What were you doing out there last night? Why were those things trying to kill you, and   
where did you get that sword?" With an effort, she kept her voice as low and steady as   
his.  
  
He still wouldn't meet her eyes. Some of his bangs were already slipping loose over his   
face in much the same way as his blood the night before: dark red trickles meeting and   
parting, clinging to his skin. "I should prefer not to tell the story twice," he said, "so I   
hope you will wait until Mr. Hiko has returned. I am sorry to disappoint you for now."  
  
The library door opened again, but it wasn't Hiko. As he came in, Sano ineffectually ran a   
hand up through his hair, which immediately flopped back down over his forehead. "Free   
breakfast! Yes!" he crowed at Kaoru's tea tray on the desk before he noticed Kenshin's   
presence. He bristled. "Back from the dead already? Or should I say undead?"  
  
Kaoru handed Sano a cup of tea and a mochi, which occupied him enough not to say   
anything else for a while. Kenshin also took a cup, sipping it half-heartedly until Hiko   
returned with his clothing, nearly dry and steaming gently, and then he retreated back into   
the workshop to change into them.  
  
"Has he provided any explanations yet?" Hiko asked, returning to his desk.  
  
"He wanted to wait until you got back. Evidently Kenshin Storytime doesn't repeat in   
syndication."  
  
"I see." He sampled a mochi and coughed. "My word. These must have been made with   
nearly as much green tea powder as rice flour."  
  
"Yeah, it's like Jolt in chewy dumpling form. Have another, you look like you need it."  
  
Kenshin returned, evidently having given up his shoes as hopeless-- they'd been soaked   
with various loathsome fluids last night, and he hadn't even bothered to wash them-- but   
otherwise dressed as usual. "Is there anyone else for whom we're waiting?"  
  
"Megumi has shrine duty before school. We'll fill her in later," Kaoru said.  
  
Hiko leaned back in his chair. "Well, Kenshin, the address and phone number in your   
student file appear to be false. I'd venture that your family name isn't really 'Wyndham-   
Pryce', either."  
  
"No, I'm afraid it isn't," Kenshin said. "I've been taking my meals and showers here at   
school and sleeping wherever seemed safe. The park down the street has nice soft lawns,   
for example. Last night I chose the cemetery, which is how I was taken by surprise last   
night. I was foolish enough to think it would take them longer to find me."  
  
"So why was the zombie hoedown trying to recruit you?"  
  
"Oro?" Kenshin blinked until Sano's phrase made sense to him. "Oh, I see. I don't believe   
they were sent to kill me. If I guess correctly, then Enishi's pawns were meant to capture   
me alive and bring me back with the sword, which I hope is in safe-keeping."  
  
"Who's Enishi?" Kaoru asked. "And how did you get Battousai's sword, anyway? Did   
you steal it from him and this Enishi person, or what?"  
  
Kenshin set down his half-finished cup of tea and leaned against the wall, more for   
support than from nonchalance. "Enishi, you might say, is an old acquaintance who   
wishes to become reacquainted. He was raised at a shrine and received further religious   
training in China. But as you saw, he has turned his knowledge to other ends. As for the   
sword..." He took a long breath, and finally looked Kaoru full in the face. "The sword   
belongs to me."  
  
Deliberately, Kaoru walked around Hiko's desk to Kenshin and struck him hard in the   
face. In the reddening imprint from her hand, a pale mark became visible on his cheek, a   
scar shaped like a cross. "So you are Battousai after all, and my father's murderer."  
  
He hadn't even flinched. His blue-violet eyes were weary, as dark as a bruise. "No. Once   
I was Battousai, but no longer. And you have no reason to believe me, but I had nothing   
to do with your father's death. I know who did kill him, and it's my duty to help you find   
them. But in exchange, there's something I must ask you to do for me."  
  
She folded her arms. "Oh really? And just what is that?" Behind her, Sano growled   
something to Hiko, whose response was equally unintelligible.  
  
Kenshin's cracked lips quirked as he glanced at the other two for a second. "It's a simple   
enough task, unlikely to offend anyone here. But I'm afraid it will require a certain   
amount of explanation first." Having returned to Kaoru, those bruise-dark eyes remained   
fixed on her the entire time he spoke.  
  
---  
  
"When I was your age," he said without apparent irony, "travellers were being killed in   
the mountains between this city and my home. There were always battles and raids   
between the nobles' factions, of course, but this was just random murder. No one was   
safe, from rich merchant caravans to beggars, even a few samurai with armed retinues.   
Often the victims weren't even robbed, just left dead on the road, mutilated and half-   
burned.  
  
"No one knew whether there was a group of bandits, a pack of wolves possessed by fire   
kami, or even one single killer, though the last choice seemed impossible. After a while,   
no one wanted to travel those roads. We couldn't send out carts of vegetables or hides to   
sell in the city, or send for a doctor when someone was ill. When winter came, our   
village's store of rice began to run low.  
  
"No one would go to the city to buy more. Not even my master at the dojo, though every   
day he consulted our chief priestess for oracles about who might be responsible and what   
should be done. I didn't want to wait until they were certain, because the longer they   
waited, the more of us were starving. One day, I talked with a miko at the shrine, one of   
the chief priestess's daughters, and she told me enough to make a guess. She gave me a   
blessing, and one of her hair ornaments for luck..." Kaoru felt oddly vexed by his faint   
blush of memory. "So the next morning, before anyone else was awake, I left the dojo   
with my swords and went into the hills in the direction she'd told me.   
  
"It didn't take very long to find him. He must have come down to meet me, too. It would   
have been easy for him to look down and see me against the snow, but I couldn't see   
anyone hiding uphill in the pines. And no one else had been on those roads for months, so   
he would have been waiting all this time for fresh prey.  
  
"I could hear him before I saw him. He had heavy footsteps that sank through the snow   
and clanked against the rock, and instead of cords or straps, all of his armor was fastened   
with thin metal chains that jingled like suzu bells. It was all solid black iron instead of   
leather or thin strips of lacquered steel, and I remember thinking that this would be easy,   
he'd be weighted down by it, and I was fast enough to run through his guard and slash   
into a gap at the waist.  
  
"I know I hit him as I went past. There was even less resistance than when we'd practiced   
at the dojo by slashing dead pigs hung from a tree, although it'd been months since   
anyone had the meat to spare for that. I skidded around in the snow to see how well I'd   
done, but instead of falling over, or even looking hurt, he was already coming after me   
with his own sword drawn.  
  
"There was enough space between us that I had time to resheath for battou-jutsu. But my   
katana wouldn't go back into its saya. The spot on the blade where I'd hit him had   
flattened out like warm wax.  
  
"I think there's a special kind of shame that overwhelms people when they realize that not   
only have they been wrong about something, but that by insisting on the wrong answer,   
they were hurting others they cared about. And in the few seconds left until he reached   
me, the only reason I could feel anything else was the equally strong feeling that I was   
about to die. I was never going to see my master again and tell him he'd been right to   
wait. I'd never be able to return the miko's hairpin and tell her it had given me as much   
heart as her blessing.  
  
"At least my sword could still block his, it was good enough for that. But it couldn't   
pierce his armor, and it only melted a little more every time I struck into one of the gaps.   
After perhaps half an hour of this, it just looked like a piece of driftwood, twisted up onto   
itself with no real edge or point left, but he still hadn't hit me. Maybe my Hiten Mitsurugi   
Ryuu skills weren't wasted after all, or maybe he was just playing with me, but at least I   
hadn't been wounded. Exhausted, freezing, and terrified, but not wounded.  
  
"By then, I was backed up against a cliff face. When he charged at me, I dodged his stab   
and scrambled up to a ledge while he was working his blade back out of the stone. It   
wasn't a very big ledge, but at least it was out of his katana's reach, and he couldn't   
possibly climb up to it in all that armor. He looked at me, and I looked at him, and after a   
while I started to wonder how long it would take him to give up and go away. He wasn't   
moving at all, just standing there beneath me. I relaxed, and started to think about how to   
get home and what to say when I got there, and then he whipped out his wakizashi from   
his belt and hurled it straight up at my face." With a deft flick of his hand, Kenshin traced   
the vertical line of his scar.  
  
"It was a very strange sensation, not like a normal cut. It was--" He paused, groping for   
words. "If you take an icicle and run the point across your arm, you feel it in two   
different ways: first there's the sharp, cold pressure, and then there's a trickling sensation   
as the meltwater flows across your skin. It didn't hurt exactly, but the second part wasn't   
so much the blood running down my face as something inside of me, as if my heart were   
being pulled up through my throat. I blacked out.  
  
"I don't know how long I was unconscious. Not long enough for me to freeze to death,   
but long enough for him to find or cut a sturdy log and drag it back to tilt against the   
ledge. When I woke up, it was partly from the noise he'd made from walking up it, and   
partly because he kicked me. His other foot was planted on what was left of my katana,   
and when I turned my head up to see him, his katana was poised straight over my face.  
  
"I rolled aside, but not fast enough." Another flick, at the horizontal line. "There was the   
same feeling all over again, but this time I wasn't as surprised, and was able to keep   
fighting. He'd already picked his wakizashi back up, but I thought I might as well try the   
same thing as he had before. I drew mine and threw it at his head. I wasn't thinking   
properly by then or I wouldn't have even tried, because if my katana couldn't hurt him,   
why would my wakizashi? But my fingers were going numb, too, not just my brain, and I   
grabbed the wrong thing from my belt and didn't know until I saw it flying toward him.  
  
"Perhaps you've never seen the hair ornaments from that era, but the one the miko had   
given me for luck wasn't just a little spangle. When her hair was down, it fell to her waist,   
and the pin she'd given me was strong enough to keep all of it piled on her head. It was a   
piece of carved rosewood about as long as my hand and as thick as my smallest finger,   
with little inlaid mother-of-pearl flowers and silver-capped tips.  
  
"I'd thrown it as hard as if it really were my wakizashi, though, and the tip went straight   
through his eye as the wooden shaft burst into flame. It must have been years since   
anyone had been able to injure him, and he fell to his knees, clutching at his face and   
howling. He dropped his katana, of course. So I stumbled back up, lifted it, and even   
though the hilt was already burning my hands, I drove the blade straight through his   
armor into his chest.  
  
"He collapsed with the blade still through his body, and my grip on the hilt dragged me   
down with him, kneeling over him in the melting snow. I hadn't had a clear view of his   
face until then, since it had been in the shadow of his helmet. But now that he was dying,   
he looked like any ordinary man, except that instead of blood, his body was oozing a little   
thick black smoke that stayed close to the ground. When he coughed, there was more   
smoke there too. He looked straight into my eyes and said 'Thank you', and then he died.  
  
"His sword felt different now. It didn't burn me any more. In fact, it made me feel warm   
and strong, as if the light of a summer afternoon were pouring up through my hands into   
my entire body. Smoke was still oozing from him when I took his wakizashi, and his   
armor felt hot. I didn't want to drag his entire body back with me, but I knew I could find   
the place again to show my master, so I climbed down the log and started on the path for   
home. When I looked back, there was an orange glow on the ledge, but I thought it was   
just sunset reflecting from the rock.   
  
"A few days later, when I'd fully recovered and brought my master back there, nothing   
was left of the body but a melted lump of black iron, the same color as his swords. After   
that..." Kenshin shrugged unhappily.   
  
"We were able to send a caravan to the city and trade for food before many more of us   
starved. The caravan told everyone that the roads were safe now, though my master   
refused to let them spread my name or the story of our duel. I didn't like that. I was proud   
of what I'd done; why wouldn't I be? I wore the black swords whenever I could, I picked   
quarrels for the sheer pride of being able to make others back down, and after I nearly   
killed another student with my bokken, my master told me he would have the chief   
priestess exorcise me and destroy the swords, in case any lingering influence of evil   
remained in them.  
  
"So I ran away with them. As I was crossing through the mountains, an ordinary bandit   
attacked me. The black swords were the only weapons I had with me, so I killed him with   
those. It felt good. It felt even better than when I'd killed the swords' former master."   
There was no remembered pleasure in his face, only distant self-loathing. "I had given the   
swords fresh blood to drink, and they made me Battousai.   
  
"After that, I couldn't be stopped. Perhaps if I'd taken the armor, my body would have   
burned or melted ordinary weapons as well, but it didn't have to. I've had arrows shot   
through my throat, and all I did was pull them out and wait a few seconds to recover my   
voice so I could tell the archers how they'd die. I've had my ankles chopped out from   
under me, killed my enemy while running on the raw stumps, and then simply brushed   
the dirt and leaves from my feet to press them back against my legs for a minute or two   
until they reattached. I lost track of how many bodies I left behind me, especially once I   
reached the city."  
  
His gaze finally released Kaoru's. Involuntarily, she stepped back. "As you can see," he   
said, glancing up toward the wound on his forehead, "I can be hurt now by ordinary   
means, though I still heal more quickly than ordinary humans. I stole enough life from   
the people I killed to have lived nearly one hundred fifty years so far, and perhaps several   
centuries more. But I'm not immortal. I can be killed. And Miss Kaoru," he said to her, "I   
want you to do it."  
  
---  
  
A razor-sharp fishbone whipped straight past Kaoru's neck, brushing her ponytail, and   
buried itself in Kenshin's shoulder. "You're awfully picky," Sano snarled. "I'd be happy to   
do it for her."  
  
"Sano!" Kaoru said, shocked.  
  
"Now see here!" Hiko protested, standing to reach across his desk to grab and twist   
Sano's shirt at the neck. "That was completely uncalled for."  
  
Grimacing with pain, Kenshin made a strained copy of the "everything's fine" wave until   
Hiko put Sano back down. Then, cutting his fingers too where they gripped the sharp   
edges of the tail, Kenshin pulled the fish back out. He placed it on Hiko's desk, with one   
of the teatray's paper napkins under it to catch the blood, then pressed another napkin   
hard against his wound. "Mr. Harris," he said patiently, "I'm afraid you weren't listening.   
I can be hurt by flesh, wood, and steel now. In fact, this hurts rather a lot, and now I'll   
have to wash my shirt again. But if you took that and cut my throat, I might appear to   
collapse and die, but over time my body would heal itself again and bring me back to life.   
  
"Some methods take more time than most. Drowning is fastest. I just wash back up again.   
Getting hit by a train is extremely untidy and upsets the engineer, and afterward, once my   
body knits itself back together, I've had to pick gravel and splinters out of my flesh for a   
year. Burning is almost as fast as drowning, because the smoke and ashes just condense   
back together.  
  
"I believe the only thing that can truly kill me is the silver sakabatou. It killed Enishi and   
the others, and they would have remained dust if the holy seal on our weapons hadn't   
broken. Now that they've returned, they want my sword so they can be restored to their   
full powers. This is why they've taken the sakabatou, and why they marked the face of   
your father and the others as a challenge to me.   
  
"When they were killed, their own weapons lost the ability to drain life, and their jewels   
came to my sword. They want to recover it and regain them. So we must reclaim your   
sakabatou from them first so you can kill me with it. Once I die, the master katana will   
die with me, and likely Enishi and the others as well. You will have your vengeance, and   
the curse will end at last." The napkin at his shoulder was soaked now, and he quietly slid   
down the wall to the floor.  
  
--  
  
Kenshin was obviously in no condition to attend classes. Hiko helped him back into the   
workshop to bandage his shoulder while Sano remained in the main library and fumed at   
Kaoru. "He's seriously psycho. Even if we believe all of that, he didn't explain how he   
stopped being Battousai, or who this Enishi person is, much less all those 'others' he   
keeps lumping in with them."  
  
"He said their weapons used to be able to drain life, but they can't any more. So maybe   
they used to be, I dunno, mini-Battousai? The Battousai Scouts?" Kaoru mused, then   
picked up the fish in its bloody napkin and tossed it to him. "Anyway, what business do   
you have calling people psycho when you just threw that thing practically at his neck? If   
he is crazy and none of what he said is true, then you really could have killed him. And I   
bet you'd get major detention for that."  
  
"He's bad news, Kaoru. We should've left him in the cemetery with his zombie friends to   
take him back to the Enishi family reunion."  
  
Hiko returned to his desk and creditably forged the voice of a worried parent to call the   
school office and tell them Kenshin would be out sick, then gave Sano a very grave look.   
"That was a remarkably imprudent act. Did you consider the consequences at all?"  
  
"Sure. Either he's lying and we need to get rid of him, or he's telling the truth and we   
need to get rid of him."  
  
"Yes, but on which level? Suppose he were only telling partial truths while concealing   
the bloodlust and the soul-destroying powers of Battousai? That might have enraged him   
enough to kill us all, you know."  
  
Sano paled a little, but shrugged "Well, he didn't. So I guess I proved something after   
all."  
  
"Perhaps you only proved that he needs his sword to do it," Hiko said, folding his arms.   
"But I must say that for my part, I believe him. It matches up reasonably well with the   
account that his old master, my great-grandfather, wrote down, and which I told to you   
earlier. Kenshin has done nothing to harm us, and so I must insist that you refrain from   
further unprovoked attacks on him. And no, I will not accept a claim that his mere   
existence provokes you. But Kaoru, what do you make of this?"  
  
She twisted her face unhappily. "Does not compute. Need more data. At the very least,   
we need to know more about the Enishigumi or whatever so we'll know how dangerous   
they are. I mean, are they going to come here and attack us, or him? Will we even be able   
to take them on and get my father's sword back? I don't even want to think about what to   
do after that yet."   
  
Helpfully, Sano pointed at the workshop door and made a throat-cutting gesture which   
Hiko missed by yawning mightily, despite the green tea mochi. "Megumi's ofuda stopped   
those creatures well enough," Hiko said, "but they have no effect on him. So either he's   
powerful enough that only the ofuda of a fully-trained priestess can stop him, or he's not   
any danger of that sort after all. If the former, then we have little hope against him with   
our present resources. If the latter, which is my opinion, I believe the school is adequately   
warded to prevent further attacks, so he'll be safe here."  
  
"It has to beat sleeping in the cemetery." Kaoru shivered, then sniffed the air. "Hey, do   
you smell something burning? Not like the kiln room, more like paper?"  
  
They craned around until Sano spotted the curl of smoke near the ceiling. "Up there," he   
said, and pointed to the top of the bookcase behind Hiko's desk.  
  
Hiko jerked his hand back from initial contact, then clenched his jaw and brought the   
black sword back down again, limiting his grip to the hilt's braided wrapping instead of   
touching any of the metal. The ofuda he had wrapped around the blade were beginning to   
smolder, their dark, curling edges fluttering apart into bright orange crumbs. He held the   
sword straight above Kenshin's unfinished tea to catch the falling sparks, and plunged the   
tip into it with the sound of a serpent's breath.  
  
---  
  
"Enishi, I can't see him any more. He's gone, gone into a place with pretty little butterflies   
on fire, too bright to look at. Make it dark again."  
  
"Hush, love, I'll make things right. Everything will be the way it was, even if Battousai   
isn't our leader anymore. Jineh can do the job just as well, better even." Nestled in their   
dim crypt haven, Enishi tenderly reassured his sister. The silver spikes of his hair were   
even paler than the frail silk of her kimono, whose wide obi wrapped high around her   
waist. By contrast, his long leather coat was not quite as dark as her hair, a long, heavy   
mass bound up by a silver-capped rosewood pin with little mother-of-pearl flowers.  
  
By contrast, the other woman with them was dressed provocatively, her neckline pitched   
far down enough to loosely expose both shoulders. Her full lips were heavily painted,   
though there was not enough light to show their color was dark green, not red. "Jineh's   
such a loser. If we could get Battousai back with us again instead, that'd be wicked cool."  
  
Enishi shrugged. "Battousai, Jineh, it's all the same to me, as long as my sweetheart here   
is well again. And then we'll have some fine times in the city again, won't we, my pet?"  
  
Tomoe smiled wanly. "Oh yes. I remember the dinners we had there, with pomegranates   
and camellias all covered in blood. It was lovely. We turned everything to the color of his   
hair, but now I can't see where he is."  
  
"Shut up, you two, Jineh's coming back."  
  
Their so-called leader returned with a few more corpses. He was disgruntled and muddy.   
"We've tunneled under most of this cemetery, and we still haven't caught him with all of   
your puppets. This plan of yours had better work soon, Enishi."  
  
"Or what? You're going to stab me with a katana just like you did Battousai? Oh, I forgot,   
that won't work now, because when you did that, it bloody sucked the power out of all of   
our weapons, and we got dusted the same night. What good's the sakabatou going to do   
us anyway without him?"  
  
"Hear me and obey!" Jineh thundered, and stormed away.  
  
Yumi watched him leave. "Five by five," she said sarcastically.  
  
-----  
  
(Another talky chapter. Unfortunately, I don't think I have a good notion of Jineh yet,   
other than Generic Big Bad; neither he nor the Master had particularly distinctive speech   
patterns as far as I can remember. Oh well, maybe I should actually have one pseudo-   
original character in this. Other than that, can't think of anything useful to say this time   
except that this chapter didn't take as long to write as I'd thought. Woohoo.)  
  
(Version 5.1 notes: Once my initial round of sleep deprivation wore off, I realized that   
the original version of this chapter sucked rocks. No wonder it was suspiciously easy to   
write. Now about twice as long and extra-crispy with added calcium. Poor Kenshin is   
getting beat up an awful lot. I really ought to let him break loose and get jiggy on some   
enemy he won't fret about, thus demonstrating that he too can still kick ass when   
necessary.) 


	6. birds of a feather

And lo, unto Watsuki Nobuhiro and Joss Whedon a voice cried out, I am not worthy.   
Mea maxima culpa mit schlag.  
  
Edodale   
By wombat  
  
Chapter 6  
  
"And then Sano just up and fishsmacked him," Kaoru whispered to Megumi in the locker   
room. "He was all testosterone- poisoning poster boy. But it was really weird, the way   
Kenshin didn't react at all. Or I mean, sure, he pulled the fish back out and bled all over   
the place, but even Hiko got more mad at Sano than he did."  
  
Megumi shook her head. A faint scent of incense wafted out, lingering in her hair from   
her dawn service at the shrine. She'd already changed into her gym clothes, but was   
waiting for Kaoru, who had arrived a little late."That's really bad. You know Sano; he's   
going to keep pushing Kenshin until he gets some kind of reaction, and I don't think any   
of us wants to be around when that happens. It's like the way Calvin's dad said they test   
bridge strengths-- drive heavier and heavier trucks over them until they collapse, and then   
build a new bridge exactly the same way."  
  
"Can we tell Sano not to drive trucks over bridges until he's burned them? Not that we   
can drive yet, but you know."  
  
"Yeah, but what about the rest of it? You know, Kenshin's whole 'I was a teenage   
Battousai' thing? Especially the part where he says he isn't anymore but he wants you to   
kill him anyway?"  
  
Kaoru finished tying her shoes and poked around in her gym bag for a hair scrunchie.   
"Well, you were sure last night that he isn't, so that takes care of the middle, and Hiko   
said this morning that the first part matches up with what he knows. And the third part is   
pretty complicated if first we have to play capture-the-sword with more Kenshin-type   
people. We can't let them get his sword, and we have to get mine back from them. I don't   
have to worry about killing him before then, do I?"  
  
"Not unless you want to worry about whether you're going to do it or not. I mean, can   
you?"  
  
"If I don't, it's not like he can make me," Kaoru mused. "He said what he really wants to   
do is get rid of his sword, but what if there's some other way to do it that won't kill him?   
Think we could get more help from...?" She mimed fox-ears.  
  
"Well, Inari is supposed to have swordsmithly powers along with all the other stuff. I   
guess I should get a better look at that thing to get an idea."  
  
"Oh, that reminds me," Kaoru said nervously. "Um, his sword doesn't like your ofuda."  
  
"Why not? They're perfectly good ofuda, aren't they? I'm insulted."  
  
"Does your definition of 'perfectly good' usually include spontaneous combustion?"  
  
"Whoa, okay, that's not so good then."  
  
The gym teacher leaned into the locker room and yelled at the girls to get a move on.   
They scrambled up to join the others outside.  
  
---  
  
Judging from the light, it was well into the morning when Kenshin revived again. His   
head had stopped hurting for now, but his shoulder hadn't. Experimentally, he flexed his   
arm, winced, and decided to use the other elbow as leverage to half-roll himself off the   
worktable, swinging his legs off the edge as he sat up.   
  
"So why aren't you dead?" Kenshin turned toward the library door, surprised. Sano was   
straddling Hiko's chair backwards, toying with a fishbone. His cynical gaze was filtered   
through the brown hair flopping over his forehead. "Don't you 'oro' at me or you'll get   
another one of these."  
  
"I am delighted to see you as well, Mr. Harris."  
  
"Whoa, out with the sarcasm! No point wasting courtesy when the ladies aren't around."  
  
"By the same token, they are not here to be impressed by your defense of their virtue,"   
Kenshin flatly said. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"  
  
"Hiko said he was tired and shagged out after a long squawk. He headed off to the kiln   
room for a nap, but he still needed someone to stay on duty here." Sano grinned and   
saluted. "He'll be back in an hour or so. And hey, even if I'm stuck in the library with   
you, a day without math class is like a morning without after."  
  
"I see." Kenshin's stomach made an embarrassing noise which he refused to   
acknowledge, but Sano reached back to the desk, snagged the bag of mochi balls, and   
tossed it to him in one easy motion. He barely caught it with his off hand. "Are there any   
that aren't green tea? I believe I've had enough stimulation for today already."  
  
"Again with the pickiness. You'll have to wait 'til someone brings lunch. Anyway,   
Kaoru's the one to blame for the breakfast menu. If you want your teacup without the tea,   
there's nummy hot and cold running water fresh from the sink." Sano emptied out the   
dregs from Kenshin's cup and tossed that, too.  
  
Kenshin repressed a shudder of remembered goosebumps from that morning.   
"Unfortunately, the sink's amenities do not include hot water." Resigned, he pulled out a   
mochi ball and just looked at the little green caffeine bomb for a moment before limping   
over to the sink. He drained his cup twice before taking the third cupful back to the table   
and perching back up on it again to eat.  
  
Sano kept watching him silently until about halfway through Kenshin's second mochi   
ball. "You didn't answer my question, you know. Why aren't you dead? And what made   
you wake up one morning and say, 'Hey, I'm tired of being a bloodthirsty soul-eating   
demon thing. I'm going to stop now'? And more to the point, how are we supposed to   
know you won't change back when we're in the middle of something?"  
  
Kenshin carefully finished his mochi ball and made sure it was well washed down before   
he answered. "It was not an entirely voluntary decision, or at least not mine."  
  
"Your demon thing took back its rent deposit and moved out?"  
  
"My... demon thing, if I take your meaning, has not entirely left me, or I would have died   
several times over by now. I am sorry to disappoint you. But I have stopped using the   
black sword to drain souls."  
  
"Why? Did its warranty run out?"  
  
"My own soul was forced back into me." Kenshin dusted the mochi powder off his hands.   
"One of my followers drained me and left me for dead, with barely enough strength to   
attempt seppuku with my wakizashi. Someone else..." He couldn't say her name after all   
this time, dear delicate Tomoe. "Someone more loyal stayed behind to act as my second.   
But when she brought my katana to my neck, it felt as if it burst into flame behind me,   
and the wakizashi in my guts fell apart into ash. And once it was gone, my soul had   
returned to me, and it's been hounding me ever since for all the deaths I caused as   
Battousai."  
  
With a flicker of irritation, he thought that Sano could at least look impressed. "So what   
happened to your girlfriend?"  
  
"I don't know. She had collapsed with the katana still in her hands, and I had to get away   
before the others came back. So I left her there, and disappeared into the wild."  
  
"So much for chivalry."  
  
"I thought she'd be safer with them than with me."  
  
"You've been dragging the sword around all this time without using it?"  
  
"No, I left it behind with her. I didn't feel as if I had any further use for it." Carefully,   
Kenshin tamped down the raw edges of his temper. "It came back to me a few years ago   
on its own, I suppose after the shrine's seal on the weapons had beeen broken. Each of   
them must have gone back to its owner."  
  
"Freaky." Sano tapped his fishbone's edges against his teeth. "So let me get this straight.   
You kill freaky demon guy with his sword. You take the sword, kill someone else with it,   
and hey presto, you're freaky demon guy, Mark Two. Your girlfriend just about kills you   
with your sword, and your freaky demon license is revoked. You don't think she became   
Mark Three?"  
  
"Not if the sword came to me instead of her. Besides, as you said, I didn't become   
Battousai until some time after I acquired it. It needed to be primed with a victim."  
  
"So prime freaky demonosity is basically stored in that sword right now, waiting for her   
to come pick it up and get all Tokugawa on someone's ass, and then she'll become the It   
Girl?" Sano's flippancy suddenly evaporated as his own words made sense to him. "Think   
she knows that? Anything happen to her soul?"   
  
Kenshin closed his eyes, wishing he knew. "She was never very strong, not in body. She   
had great determination and courage, but that isn't enough to wield the power of that   
sword. But then, I don't think the next user has to be her. It could be anyone." He opened   
his eyes again, feeling the green tea pound through his system as bloodlust once had.   
"Any of you, for example. Or I imagine that if I used the sword again on a living victim   
instead of Enishi's undead, I would return to my former condition."  
  
At least Sano finally looked daunted. "You could've done that last night."  
  
"I could have," Kenshin agreed. "But I didn't." He tossed the bag of mochi back to him.   
"Truce?"  
  
Sano skewered a mochi ball on his fishbone and took a bite. "Truce," he cheerfully   
agreed.  
  
---  
  
Tomoe was sobbing and tearing at her face with her nails as Enishi tried to restrain her,   
kneeling at her side. "Don't carry on like that, love. I'm here with you, I'm here. I'll never   
leave you like he left us."  
  
Towering over them, Jineh looked down contemptuously at the pair. "You're wasting   
your time on her. She's no use to us now. We should've drained her too while we could."  
  
Enishi's eyes narrowed. "You listen up, mate. You so much as lay a finger on her without   
my leave, and you can forget about any more flesh-puppets. New ones can't rise until   
next full moon anyway, so what's your hurry? And you can't drain her anyway, any more   
than a mouse." Casually, he drew his sword, a strange design with a curved black blade   
and an ornate hilt, and tapped it against Jineh's katana. "Bloody wanker."  
  
Jineh snorted, but stepped back out of reach anyway. "Battousai never asked your leave   
for her either," he jibed.  
  
"Too right. You don't see me crying for him to come back, do you?" Both men were   
startled at the sudden silence as Tomoe looked from one face to the other, her eyes wide.   
"Easy there," Enishi rushed to reassure her. "I just want you to be happy, that's all.   
Battousai made you unhappy when he went away, didn't he? I won't see you hurt like that   
again."  
  
She let him rock her against his chest as Jineh stalked out again, probably in search of   
Yumi. The silver tip of Tomoe's hairpin pressed against Enishi's shoulder, and it must   
have hurt him, even padded by the fabric of his shirt, but he didn't flinch away. Drawing   
the shreds of her sanity around her, Tomoe caressed her brother's face and smiled at him   
for a second, then let herself fall back down into the whirling torment of her soul.  
  
---  
  
Wakened by the next bell, Hiko returned from his nap to the library, sent Sano back to   
class ("No, I can stay; Kenshin and me are best buds now..."), and closed off the   
workshop again. Kenshin sat there alone, listening to the students stampede through the   
hallway.   
  
Sunlight sparkled with dust as it slanted through a window high in the wall, painting a   
wash of warm amber over the floor and the worktable, the shelves of drying earthenware   
and pots of glaze. The noise outside faded away as the last stragglers ran into their   
classrooms. The chaos was nothing like the school he remembered, the austere dojo   
whose master must have been the librarian's ancestor, he supposed. The name wasn't a   
coincidence after all, nor the familiar accent of his home province.   
  
There was no point in staying on the worktable now, in the direct glare of the sun, so he   
tucked himself into the corner below the window, nearly under the sink. Folding his arms   
around his drawn-up knees, he rested his head on them. The floor and wall radiated cold   
through his clothing, but he'd survived worse, despite not wanting to. His shoulder and   
his head ached, and his torn shirt was still damp from its fresh washing, but it was more   
comfortable than burrowing naked into dead leaves with the rest of the vermin. He'd done   
that for the first few years after he ceased being Battousai, trying to abase himself in   
atonement for everything he'd done. He didn't know whether it had appeased his victims'   
spirits, or whether it was just his own guilt that constantly gnawed and worried at his   
soul.  
  
He could sense the black sword's presence nearby, calling and whispering to him. He   
hoped his former comrades couldn't feel it too. If they were travelling together, perhaps   
they still shared the cruel camaraderie he'd enjoyed with them so long ago. It was hard to   
remember, and he did so unwillingly, but he would need to recall every detail of their   
strengths and weaknesses if he hoped to overcome them now.  
  
---  
  
Tomoe had been the first to join him in his life as Battousai. He hadn't even known it   
could be done. Until then, no one had slipped past his katana to mark him, not since the   
cross-mark had been branded onto his cheek. But he remembered Tomoe from home as   
the pretty miko his own age, though now she was three years older and he was not. He'd   
never told her how crucial she'd been to his transformation. But when she came to the   
city and found him, he welcomed her gladly, offering refuge to her claim of having run   
away from the shrine to find a more worldly life. And that night, he woke to find her   
crouched above him, surrounded by the implements of exorcism with her tanto driven   
deep into his chest.  
  
He'd laughed. It didn't hurt at all. In fact, he'd felt a strange flow of pleasure through the   
wound and up her blade as it turned black. It was almost like the surge that pulsed up his   
sword whenever he killed his victims, drawing off their life force to add to his own.   
Tomoe had stared at him in silent horror in her last moments as a mortal, her hands   
frozen to the hilt as it blossomed a topaz kashira as golden as Battousai's eyes. The   
wound in his heart healed itself, pushing her tanto back out, and she fell sprawling to the   
floor. When she sat up, her eyes had the same topaz fire as his, and the same thirst for   
death.  
  
He taught her to hunt the streets as he did, though her methods had to be more subtle. She   
was skilled at appearing sweet, helpless, and lost, on streets too dark to betray the color   
of her eyes. A man walking alone might be moved either to help her or take advantage of   
her, depending on his disposition. Either one would end as a corpse in an alley, his throat   
slit by her black tanto. Battousai knew that the same wild rush surged through her then as   
his katana gave him at the end of a duel, cutting through flesh and bone alike.  
  
---  
  
After a few years more, their paths crossed with Yumi, a samurai's daughter trained to   
fight with a naginata. She'd been trained well, as she proved when Battousai and Tomoe   
broke into her family's compound and met her in the courtyard. Battousai could evade her   
easily, but Tomoe could not. Afterward, Yumi helped the two slaughter her own kin, her   
black weapon gleaming red with their blood, but green with the emerald that had   
appeared at the base of her naginata's pole, embedded in the ishizuki.  
  
Three pairs of golden eyes now hunted the city, three black blades drinking lives away.   
Battousai and Tomoe would sometimes tease Yumi about the difficulty of concealing her   
naginata, as each of them was bonded only to their own proper weapon. They'd tried   
exchanging them once and got no joy from their kills that night, though they made up for   
it on the next.   
  
In return, Yumi scoffed at Tomoe's furtive ways. She needed more room to fight than   
either of the others, enough space for the wide sweep of her blade, but she could also cut   
down several men at once. The only concealment she needed was a rooftop from which   
she could leap down upon them, stooping with deadly grace. Her loosely fastened robes   
gave her the ease of movement the naginata required, but also showed her victims one   
last hint of earthly pleasures as they died.  
  
---   
  
The whispers about Battousai and his women spread through the city-- the angel of death   
who passed through the night with his winged companions, the falcon and the dove-- and   
far beyond, reaching the village where he and Tomoe had been born. The elders took   
notice, and sent Enishi to gather news for them.  
  
Enishi had been Tomoe's younger brother, but by the time he came to them, he had lived   
a few more mortal years than she had. After training as a priest at their family shrine, he   
had gone to China to seek out further wisdom, and finally came to the city in hopes of   
exorcising the evil from his beloved sister. But when they finally met and spoke, he was   
so appalled by what she'd become that he tried to strike her down.   
  
His sword gained a sapphire, though he used it less than the others, or rather on fewer   
victims. His chosen few were brought back to their lair, tormented with drawn-out   
precision, and eventually dispatched, their bodies providing raw material for his   
experiments with restoring movement, though not life.  
  
Though they did not know it, this would be their happiest time together, as such things   
went. Despite fond squabbles and occasional spats, they were as closely bonded as any   
family, both in blood and body. If anything, they became too comfortable, killing less   
frequently and becoming less vigilant. And then Jineh came to them, and everything fell   
apart.  
  
---  
  
Hiko woke in his chair, half-leaping up from his slouch at the ding of the service bell on   
his desk. He recognized her at once. "Ah. Ms. Summers, isn't it?"   
  
Joyce looked startled at first, then a little sad. "How did you know-- oh, how silly of me.   
You have seen me before, after all; I've just never met you."  
  
He finished standing and extended his hand, first to shake hers and then to point out a   
chair on her side of the desk as he sat down again. "Rupert Hiko, at your service." He   
rubbed his stiff neck, aware of the stubble that rasped against his wrist. "I'm afraid I'm a   
bit untidy at the moment. Late-night research project, you know. How may I help you? Is   
it something to do with Kaoru?"  
  
"No, not exactly. It's just that I haven't had the time to find you and thank you properly   
for helping us that awful night."  
  
"I wish I could have done more, for your family and all the others. Kaoru hasn't spoken   
much of her brother. How is Yahiko?"  
  
She sighed. "At this rate, we'll just have to keep listening to him hitting that poor tree in   
the yard and interpreting it in Morse code. But they're tough kids, both of them. I'll just   
have to give them their space for now, I suppose."  
  
"And yourself?" he asked more quietly.  
  
"Oh, I'll manage somehow. There's the insurance money, and thank goodness, none of the   
students' or assistant instructors' families are suing us for not guarding the dojo with   
barbed wire and rabid dogs. I don't know what I'll do with the place now, though. I'm   
thinking of selling it off."  
  
"Really? Dear me, I was hoping to lease it from you."  
  
She looked a bit skeptical. "I don't think students would be eager to come back there,   
even with a new instructor."  
  
Hike hunched down over the desk and radiated his very best librarian aura. "Me, instruct   
martial arts? Whatever put that idea into your head?"  
  
"When I woke you up unexpectedly, you reached for your sword."  
  
"But I'm not wearing my--" Involuntarily, he glanced down at his hip, then back at her   
wistful amusement.  
  
"Koshijirou used to do that, you see. I never learned any of his techniques, but some   
things you can't help but notice."  
  
"Ah. Just so," Hiko said evasively, and changed the subject. "No, I was thinking of   
setting up a place to flog off my pottery. On the other hand, I wouldn't have the leisure to   
staff it myself, so perhaps it's a silly idea." Take the hint, he thought fiercely behind a   
bland expression, and added, "Kaoru says you're working at the Akabeko now?"  
  
"Yes. They don't open until lunchtime, so at least my mornings are free. And the pay's   
not bad, but there's only so much sushi I can roll without going out of my head with   
boredom."  
  
Sod subtlety, he decided. "If I were to lease your dojo and convert it to a gallery, would   
you be interested in staffing it? I'd pay you both the rent and wages, of course, or if you   
prefer, we could draw up a profit-sharing agreement. It's just that raku artware is an   
absurdly profitable sideline for me, much more so than my regular salary here. So really I   
can't afford to build up stock much longer without selling it, and as I haven't found any   
local venues yet...."  
  
Her initial startlement turned to serious consideration. "Raku ware, you say? It's beautiful   
stuff. Could I see some of your work?"  
  
"Yes, certainly. There are some pieces in my workshop back there," Hiko said, in the   
instant he remembered Kenshin. Too late, though; she had already walked in. Hiko   
followed her just in time to see her notice him huddled in the far corner. She looked   
startled, but with no hint of fear. Kenshin, too, showed no signs of recognizing her. "Your   
son?" she asked Hiko.  
  
He thought he heard a muffled choking sound from Kenshin. "No, he's my library aide,"   
Hiko said. "Do come up and say hello to Kaoru's mother," he called over, just to be sure.  
  
Kenshin gave a little start of surprise in the middle of unfolding himself, and limped over   
to kiss her hand. So he really hadn't known who she was, Hiko thought with relief, and   
promptly sent him out to the main library desk for some paperwork. Joyce turned her   
head after him with a worried look. "That poor boy. Whatever happened to him?"  
  
"He came in here that way," Hiko truthfully said. Except for that business with   
Sanosuke's fish, of course. At least the lads seemed to've patched things over for now.  
  
"I hope someone will call Social Services on his behalf. Really, the things some parents   
will do to their children," Joyce sighed, then settled back to admiring the finished raku's   
iridescence.  
  
---  
  
"Going out again?" Jineh leaned against the crypt doorway, just enough to block Yumi's   
way.   
  
She glared at him. Her hair glinted violet as it tumbled down across her shoulders, half-   
bared by the low sleeves of her leather bodice, and her curled lips were the dark green of   
bitter envy. "Get out of my face. I'm not staying cooped up in here with the Wonder   
Twins, and especially not with you."  
  
He caught the pole of her naginata as she tried to pass. "I would've thought you'd   
welcome the attentions of a real man after so many years with two half-grown boys."  
  
The naginata whipped out of his hand and at his throat as she leaped back to combat   
distance. Her low voice carried clearly. "Jineh, we've been stuck with you this side of   
death for three years now. Three damn years after we all came back from getting killed,   
because Battousai could hold us together and you couldn't. That's nearly three years   
longer than you spent with us before then, before you tried to kill him because you   
couldn't stand not getting laid. Well, Enishi's looking out for Tomoe, and I'm looking out   
for me, so you'd better get used to being lonely for the rest of your eternal life."  
  
---  
  
"Unfortunately, I haven't time to demonstrate the entire process," Hiko said, replacing the   
lid on the can of sawdust in the kiln room, "but that's the general idea. So what do you   
say?"  
  
Joyce's rapt enthusiasm faded a bit. "Well," she said slowly, "I think you probably could   
remodel the dojo into a raku gallery. If you moved your workshop and kiln there, or set   
up duplicates, people might come just to watch you throw and fire your pieces, not that   
they need the extra boost. The shaping and glaze effects are really beautiful. And if you   
were setting up your gallery anyplace else, I would've been happy to staff it for you. But   
for now, I can't see myself setting foot in that place ever again."  
  
Hiko nodded gravely, mentally smacking himself. Of course she wouldn't want to return   
every day to the place her husband had been killed. "Yes, I see. But we can still work out   
the lease arrangements and so on, I hope?"  
  
She nodded. "That does take a load off my mind. Here's my home number; give me a call   
tonight or tomorrow morning. I'd better head out to the Akabeko now, though."  
  
"Of course. I hope you won't mind if I escort you to the parking lot. There are some   
things I need to get from my own car anyway."  
  
Joyce smiled at him as they walked down the hall, some of her strain disappearing again.   
"Oh, you and that Kenshin boy. My mother always told me that men from your province   
were charmingly gallant. She also said that none of you were sincere about a single word   
of it."  
  
"None of it? Madam, I protest. It's a sad day when I can't even be trusted to fetch my own   
personal belongings from my boot."  
  
---  
  
After fetching the files Hiko had mentioned, Kenshin put them in order on the worktable   
and then curled back up in the corner, floating in a twilight state between reverie and   
slumber. He didn't even look up when Hiko came back in, and in fact took no notice of   
him whatsoever until something sailed across the room and smacked him. It was a   
bokken. Kenshin rubbed his head, silently mouthing an oro.  
  
"Thought so," Hiko said, another bokken in his hand. He sounded almost smug, and   
ridiculously refreshed. "You've gone soft. First you had ten years of invulnerability to get   
sloppy, and since then, you've either forgotten most of your training or you've been too   
afraid to use it. Well, you're not going to be much help getting the sakabatou back, are   
you? Or do you really want to rejoin your friends and get Miss Kamiya-Summers killed?"   
Kenshin sat up straight at the last jibe. Hiko grinned. "Come on, you were enough of a   
disgrace to my family's school when you were competent. Are you going to get up and   
fight or aren't you?"  
  
Bracing himself back up against the wall, Kenshin lifted the bokken. Coolly, he said,   
"You wouldn't be doing this if I had my own sword."  
  
"You had your own sword last night and were nearly taken down by a few brainless   
flesh-puppets. What's your excuse for that?" Hiko shoved the worktable to the side,   
leaving the center of the room clear. "There you were, on the verge of being knocked out   
and dragged to their master, needing to be saved by a little fox-miko. I'm surprised you're   
not more interested in her than in Kaoru, but then maybe you always need a miko to save   
your life so you can betray her later." Kenshin shifted his grip, falling into stance.  
  
"Still not ready? Too bad," Hiko said, and attacked.  
  
---  
  
"What the great googly moogly was that?" Sano asked. As he and the girls walked toward   
the library with lunch trays in hand, the hallway noise did not quite mask out a yell and a   
crash. There was an interesting sort of shadow-play visible on the workshop door's   
window, however.  
  
"It's still locked," Kaoru said, wrenching at the knob. They dashed around to the other   
door in the actual library.  
  
Cringing at the sight inside, Megumi meekly suggested, "Um, Mr. Hiko? I'm fairly sure   
that killing students on school grounds is a violation of your contract with the teachers'   
union."  
  
With the tip of his bokken, Hiko flipped Kenshin over onto his back. "He's not dead, he's   
just resting. The blood's all from his nose. At least so far." He poked him again, this time   
in the belly, and was rewarded with a retching groan as Kenshin curled up onto his side.   
  
"Not as bad as I thought. Maybe you could still take on an everyday opponent, but you   
never finished your training in Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu. I know every move you make, and   
more. If you want my help, I'll give it to you. If not--" Hiko shrugged. Kenshin lashed out   
with his bokken, a wide sweep parallel to the floor. Hiko leaped over it and kicked it   
aside as it passed, spinning it out of his hand. "Stupid pup," Hiko grinned, and sauntered   
back to his desk.  
  
-----  
  
Wherein Kenshin is again not only denied a chance to kick butt, but acquires another dent   
in his. Next time, honest. I'll even plaster live nude girls on him to make up for it, or at   
least a scantily-clad undead girl? Oh, whatever. I hate writing bridge sections. Took a   
break this chapter from mostly limiting the narrative to Kaoru's point of view, though.  
  
Oh yeh. To allay a certain amount of reader confusion, here's the cast list so far--  
  
Kaoru: Buffy   
Yahiko: Dawn (kinda)  
their parents: basically themselves   
Sano: Xander   
Megumi: Willow (and really getting into the role, I might add)   
Hiko: Giles  
  
Kenshin: Angel (though he keeps channeling Wesley to some extent as well)  
  
Enishi: Spike   
Tomoe: Drusilla   
Yumi: Faith, at least for now; she certainly isn't acting like Harmony or Darla.   
Jineh: er, I meant for him to be the Master, but he doesn't want to be. However, I refuse   
to let him use the last name "Calendar".  
  
Saito keeps insisting he wants to be Oz. I don't have a good place to wedge him into the   
plot, though.   
  
In the matter of the secret life of Enishi, um, he loves his sister very, very much. (Like   
you didn't already know that from canonical RK.) As for whether Tomoe fully   
reciprocates his feelings or what they do about it, further deponent sayeth not. Anyway, I   
already got a Tomoe/Kenshin lime out of my system a while back, and I'm giving her a   
rest. Kenshin... um, he has a bit of a workout ahead. Vide supra re scantily- clad undead   
girl. Kaoru will get her turn with him eventually, after smacking him around a lot. (It's   
fate. You can't argue with fate. Well, you can, but it tends to win.) 


	7. thus with a kiss

Whedon. Watsuki. Both names may start with W, but "wombat" still isn't either one of   
them.   
  
Edodale   
By wombat  
  
Chapter 7  
  
A few afternoons later, Kaoru walked around Hiko's empty workshop. "Looks like that's   
everything except for the dustbunnies under the sink."  
  
"Excellent," Hiko puffed, setting down a set of shelves outside. The hallway was already   
lined with cardboard boxes, all of them packed with containers of glaze mix or   
newspaper-wrapped rakuware.   
  
As Megumi started to help disassemble the shelves, Sano came back in from the parking   
lot, dusting his hands together. "The Hikomobile is looking pretty full. You'd better drive   
it over to the dojo now, or stuff is going to start falling out as soon as you turn the key."  
  
"Well, we can't have that," Hiko said. "Very well, I'll return shortly. And I'm not to find   
any of you playing catch with a vase this time, am I, Mr. Harris?" With one last carton in   
his arms, he called back over his shoulder, "And ask Kenshin whether he needs anything   
else. I have plenty of space on the return trips."  
  
"Sure, if it's a space with interdimensional wormholes." Sano had taken Hiko's place at   
the shelf frame, bracing it steady while Megumi detached the crossbars. "You heard the   
man," he said to Kaoru, then snatched a pinched finger away from a wobbly shelf. "Go   
on, scat."  
  
Kaoru rolled her eyes at him, but went ahead down the hall to the empty kiln room. Even   
without the kiln there any more, it wasn't a very big space, but it would have to do. After   
all, they couldn't very well toss Kenshin back out for the flesh-puppets to hunt him down   
again, so they'd decided to set him up in there. Despite the black sword's reaction,   
Megumi's ofuda had held steady for everything else so far, and there wasn't any sign that   
Kenshin's former associates knew he was inside the thoroughly ofuda-warded school.  
  
When Kaoru knocked on the kiln room's door and opened it, Kenshin was sitting cross-  
legged on his impromptu cot, nothing more than a sleeping bag laid out over Hiko's old   
workbench beside the sink. Sano had actually brought in some of his own outgrown   
clothing for him, and Kenshin was now wearing a rather baggy dark blue sweatshirt over   
drastically belt-cinched and rolled-up jeans. However, he had stubbornly retained his   
socks, and had even acquired more in the same color somehow. Megumi's theory was   
that he dyed them with Kool-Aid powder, and there was certainly a faint, pleasant hint of   
eau de fruit punch in the air, softening the lingering reek of raku-burnt sawdust. Kaoru   
couldn't see enough of the sink to tell if it was stained mauve, but she had her suspicions.  
  
Aside from the socks, he was looking almost respectable now, Kaoru thought. His   
wounds had healed, he'd had the benefit of several nights' sound sleep in a safe place, and   
he'd even showed back up in classes today. Even his hair looked happier, a russet tumble   
falling cleanly from his topknot. He looked up from his notebook and took the pencil out   
of his mouth, but Kaoru cleverly walked up to right in front of him, not leaving him   
enough space to stand up to greet her. "Hey," she said. "How's the history chapter look?"   
  
He moved aside a pile of textbooks to give her room to sit beside him. "I believe they   
have some of the details wrong, actually. But as usual, it's likely better to give them the   
answer they want rather than the answer that's right. Besides, it scarcely matters now."  
  
"Should I ask?"  
  
He glanced at her sideways. "Just one of those bits of historical trivia that are fascinating,   
but completely wrong. As one of the better-known examples, there is no record of the   
nursery rhyme 'Ring Around The Rosie' until the mid-nineteenth century, well after the   
Black Plague had run its course. And this song is not a political allegory about religious   
leadership in the nonviolent resistance movement."  
  
She leaned over to read the page, nervously self-aware that it was only a pretext to hover   
a little closer to him. Just yesterday, her mother had passed down the traditional warning   
about the dangerously hapless (or was that haplessly dangerous?) charms of men from   
Okusufodo, where both Hiko and Kenshin had been born and raised. And yet somehow,   
that just increased the stakes. Kaoru had been ready to hate him to the point of vengeful   
murder, but now after everything he'd said, all of that strong emotion had to find another   
direction to flow.  
  
"Um," she said. "This one here?" His handwriting had an archaic grace to it, with   
beautiful loops and swirls that modern eyes were no longer trained to read. Her pointing   
finger did not quite touch the notebook resting in his lap, but to see around her, Kenshin   
placed a light hand on her shoulder and craned his head up until her ponytail was just   
under his chin. When he recited the words, his warm breath stirred her hair.  
  
"Three hunters went a-hunting   
The falcon and the dove.   
The falcon fell upon them   
With talons from above.   
The dove, she sang so sweetly,   
She lulled the rest to sleep.   
An angel flew to meet them all   
And took their souls to keep.  
  
"It started out as a drinking song," he said. "I first overheard it outside a tavern, not too   
far from here. Later, someone set the same words to a softer melody, like a serenade or a   
lullaby. I wonder how many children or lovers have gone to bed over the years while   
listening to those words. But I suppose it's no worse than interpreting 'Every Breath You   
Take' as a love ballad." His voice was low, with an undercurrent of past regret.  
  
"It was written about you, wasn't it?" Kaoru half-turned toward him, only to find his face   
inches from her own. He stayed perfectly still, moving neither forward nor back, but his   
fingers tensed a little, causing the faintest rustle of friction between her shirt and her   
shoulder. She couldn't stop looking at his mouth, the edges of his teeth a narrow pale   
gleam behind slightly parted lips. "Kenshin?" she whispered.  
  
"Miss Kaoru." Another delicate brush of warmth against her skin.  
  
"Kenshin, I-- "  
  
Someone knocked on the door, and they jerked away from each other as if bitten.   
Megumi poked her head in. "Um, Sano and me got the shelves all taken apart." Kaoru   
had a terrible feeling that her own face had turned as red as Megumi's or even Kenshin's   
hair, but if so, Megumi was doing a wonderful job of pretending not to notice. "So we   
were thinking, to save Mr. Hiko from getting charged under the child labor laws for   
getting us to help him pack up and move all this stuff, we should make him buy us   
dinner. Maybe at the Akabeko? Or would that be too awkward with your mom there?"  
  
"The Akabeko sounds fine," Kaoru quickly said. "I should call Yahiko and see if he   
wants to come too. I shouldn't keep leaving him stuck at home by himself in the   
afternoons." She leaped up and fled down the hall to use Hiko's phone in the library.  
  
---  
  
After a few more weeks, the most significant change at school was that the library annex   
entered a third phase of existence, having gone from office to workshop to mini-dojo.   
Hiko seemed to take as much contemplative pleasure from helpfully thrashing Kenshin   
around the room as he had from shaping pottery, but at least it was entirely without   
malice, and either he was starting to ease up on him or Kenshin was improving after all.   
Sano had also volunteered to be trained, but while Hiko had refused to initiate him into   
Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu, Kaoru decided that she needed to stay in practice as well.  
  
To keep Yahiko company, she started to bring her friends home with her after school,   
slowly drawing her brother back out by sparring with him with both sibling rivalry and   
Kamiya Kasshin Ryuu. Megumi and Sano would join her there, but Kenshin never did.   
He hadn't been alone with her since that day, and she wasn't sure which of them was   
avoiding the other.  
  
Kaoru wondered if he ever left the school at all now. He hadn't come with them to the   
Akabeko that evening, he hadn't joined them in the three more night patrols they'd done   
at the cemetery since then, and he didn't even have gym class as a reason to go outside.   
She mentioned this to Megumi one Friday afternoon as they sat on the back step of her   
house, watching Yahiko chase Sano around the big tree with his shinai.  
  
"It can't be healthy," Kaoru fretted. "He never complains about cabin fever or anything,   
but cafeteria food must be all he ever eats now, except when we bring him mochi balls   
and treats like that."  
  
"He's certainly getting plenty of exercise," Megumi pointed out. "I haven't seen his teeth   
falling out from scurvy, and his grades are doing fine. Mens sana and also dens sanus in   
corpore sano, which has nothing to do with our Mr. Harris over there, but what more   
could any concerned parent ask?"  
  
Kaoru shrugged. "Maybe a social life?"  
  
"You mean like dating?" Megumi innocently asked. When Kaoru looked at her   
reproachfully, she flashed a lopsided grin. "Oh, like you don't like him. He is awfully   
sweet, and he can cook, and he can even dye his own socks without turning the rest of his   
clothes funny colors."  
  
"Aren't you forgetting something?"  
  
"Like what?"  
  
"Like the part where he wants me to kill him after we get the sakabatou back?"  
  
"Oh yeah." Megumi's grin slumped with the rest of her. "Mr. Hiko took Kenshin's sword   
to your old dojo, didn't he?"  
  
"He locked it into the same case the sakabatou used to be in, since that already had some   
major kami smackdown set up around it, and it's all hidden away behind some display   
shelves. Did you get any Inari-type vibes from it before then?"  
  
"It's not a happy sword." Megumi shivered. "It's hungry. And it's still linked to Kenshin   
on a very deep level, but I haven't been able to figure out a good way to unlink them yet.   
Or even if there is a way. Maybe I'll know a little more after tomorrow night."  
  
"Patrol night? The last three have been pretty quiet, just a few flesh-puppets wandering   
around in bad shape. I guess Kenshin said that Enishi can only bring up new ones at full   
moon, so we're going to have a lot of them to deal with tomorrow. But what does that   
have to do with the sword?"  
  
"The guys didn't tell you?" Megumi looked a little panicked. "Mr. Hiko said he thinks   
Kenshin should be ready to join us on patrol soon. I'm not sure if it'll be tomorrow   
already, but pretty way soon. And the readiness thing sounds way past the typical Boy   
Scout being-prepared drill."  
  
Kaoru was puzzled by Megumi's mood. "Well, at least he'll finally get out of school.   
Okay, so we give him the standard-issue silver-plated pointy fish and maybe one of the   
crossbows he helped us put back together, or a wire-wrapped bokken and a steel weapon-  
blocking thing. Or even just a lot of little sake bombs and a lighter. He'll be a lot of help   
to us in a fight. Okay, so Hiko can still wipe the floor with him, but it takes longer now.   
And every time he spars with Sano, Sano still gets TKO'd within a few minutes."  
  
Megumi had been shaking her head all along. "No no no. Maybe we can give him our   
weapons tomorrow night if he comes along. And if that was the only thing, I'd be total   
happy happy joy joy here. But at some point, Mr. Hiko and Kenshin are thinking of   
bringing the black sword out again."  
  
---  
  
"Are you completely nuts?" Kaoru demanded the next morning, still out of breath from   
her bicycle ride. As before, she was confronting Hiko in her family dojo. A wall shrine   
had been set up where her father had died, and a pattern of red camellias traced down the   
hallway as a tribute to his fallen students, but otherwise the interior now looked more or   
less like the artisan's gallery Hiko had converted it to. He only opened it on weekends,   
selling most of his work online instead.   
  
He finished poking at eBay or PayPal or whatever it was he was doing, powered down   
his laptop, and stretched out his legs. "I've been discussing the sword with Kenshin and   
Megumi for some time now. Tell me, do you still intend to avenge your father's death?"  
  
"How can you even ask me that here?" She'd thought she was nearly over it now, but the   
bitter grief threatened to rise up and drown her again.  
  
"I'll take that as a 'yes'. Very well, how do you intend to do it?"  
  
The painful lump in her throat dissolved out of sheer confusion. "I-- what do you mean?"  
  
Hiko did the annoying glasses-polishing thing, settled them back onto his nose, and   
sighed. "Kaoru, let me speak frankly. After what Kenshin told us, we know several things   
about the culprits. They are almost certainly his four former associates, who were once   
the same sort of creature that he was as Battousai. Like him, while remaining immortal,   
they've been weakened, and no longer wreak havoc by devouring people's souls. Unlike   
him, their reason for the last is not because they no longer wish it, but rather because they   
have been rendered unable. If they can possibly recover that ability, they will certainly   
attempt to do so, and will use it without mercy if they succeed. On the other hand,   
Kenshin appears to be still fully capable of using his sword to regain his powers as   
Battousai, except that his conscience has prevented him from doing so."  
  
"And he's not going to," Kaoru insisted, then checked herself. "Is he?"  
  
"If I may continue for a moment? As you appear to have noticed, Kenshin himself is a   
delightful individual, if a bit morose at times, but one can hardly blame him for that. We   
must assume that it was demonic possession that made this paragon into a monster.   
  
"Now, what sort of transformation might we expect in the others? One of them, for   
example, was once a miko rather like our Megumi: earnest, determined, and willing to   
risk her life to destroy him. This Tomoe didn't seek out power for its own sake, any more   
than Kenshin had when he went to confront that first warrior. The stories of the others are   
much the same.  
  
"So do you intend to destroy them entirely, or only the demonic element inside them   
while sparing the humans they once were?"  
  
"Oh." Kaoru sat down suddenly on the floor, stunned. "What should I do?"  
  
"It's not my place to tell you." He folded his hands and contemplated them. "This is the   
redress that you are seeking for your own rightful grievance; whatever you choose to do,   
I think that all of us are willing to help you accomplish it. But we cannot tell you what   
form of justice would satisfy you and the honor of your family. Only you can do that."  
  
"I don't-- " She made herself breathe deeply. "So we could do either one? The sakabatou   
dispels the demon by destroying the body it's in, right?"  
  
"At least temporarily. However, we have not yet recovered it, and may be unable to do so   
until we've defeated all of Kenshin's former followers. We may be able to do so with a   
combination of tactics similar to what we've already used on the flesh-puppets: relatively   
ordinary silver weapons, ofuda, fire, and the occasional divine intervention."  
  
"So by the time we can get the sakabatou back, we won't need it any more."  
  
He shrugged. "Except for Kenshin. As long as he and his sword still exist, his followers   
will be able to recoalesce from their dust. It may take months or years, but eventually   
they'll return to the world. To end the cycle, you must destroy the demonic presence at its   
root."  
  
"And that means him." She was not going to cry. Not now. "And what about the other   
way?"  
  
"That appears to be somewhat more permanent." Hiko picked up a printout with   
Megumi's familiar scrawl in the margins, as well as some of Kenshin's flowing script. "If   
it works correctly, it will prevent them from devouring souls ever again, and may even   
return them to normal human status. At the least, they'll be rather like Kenshin, still   
nearly immortal but with their own souls restored to them. However, their own weapons   
will be destroyed in the process, removing the chance of returning to their former... mode   
of existence, let us say."  
  
"Break their weapons, give their souls back, kick the demons out. That doesn't sound so   
bad," Kaoru said, feeling happier. "Will this work for Kenshin too?"  
  
He handed her the printout and looked at her over the top of his glasses. "No," he said.   
"And this method utterly depends on his cooperation. If he's been extremely clever all   
this time, he will certainly use this opportunity to destroy us all. And even if he hasn't,   
there's still a risk that it may happen, regardless of his intentions now."  
  
Her eyes were blurring over again, and she couldn't read the words. "This is the part that   
involves his sword?"  
  
"Indeed." Rather to her surprise, Hiko took a jug off the shelf behind him, poured some   
of its contents into a shallow bowl, and slugged it straight down. She knew that jug. It   
was part of their patrol kit, and it was full of sake. If anything, though, the sake shot   
simply made him more intense. "It will involve Kenshin, and his sword, and Kenshin   
using his sword. In short, it will require him to become Battousai."  
  
---  
  
Kenshin whistled to himself as he washed Sano's donated clothing in the kiln room's sink,   
saving his socks for last. He had a few more furnishings now: an electric hot pot for late-  
night ramen, a bowl and chopsticks, a small set of shelves, and best of all, a laundry rack.   
One by one, he wrung out each item and spread it out on the rack, where the draft from   
the window would dry everything by the next day. He was down to his last pair of clean   
socks, as well as his old wardrobe which the girls had convinced him was no longer fit to   
be seen in public. "The worn knees are just so mid-80s," Kaoru had teased, and he had to   
admit that it had been impossible to find thread that matched the color of his shirt. He had   
been able to mend each tear in the fabric, but the repairs were all visible as neat lines of   
stitches that were a little too pink, or purple, or blue.   
  
When he heard footsteps running down the hall outside and then a knock at his door, he   
was slightly startled, but dried his hands on his jeans and went to see who it was. "Miss   
Kaoru? To what do I owe the-- "  
  
She pushed past him and shoved back against the door, closing it. "What do you think   
you're doing?" He looked at the laundry rack. She slapped his face back toward her, hard   
enough to draw the taste of blood inside his cheek. "I just talked to Hiko about this brave   
new plan. Tell me you're not serious."  
  
"If I told you that, I would be lying." He made a half-hearted gesture encouraging her to   
sit down, but she wouldn't budge, her eyes as hot as molten cobalt glass.  
  
"Do you actually want to turn back into Battousai and make me kill you early?"  
  
"Now that you've phrased it that way, yes."  
  
That last word seemed to hang between them, sucking all the air from her lungs in a sharp   
exhalation. Faltering, she turned away from him and slumped with her head bowed   
against the wall. When he touched her arm, she slapped him away again, but she was   
crying. Not flagrantly, but with a low moan in her throat like distant winter wind, and her   
face was streaming wet.  
  
"Miss Kaoru," he tried again, then shook his head and stepped backwards to the   
workbench. He sat down with his elbows hard against his thighs, buried his face in his   
hands, and waited for her to reach out to him again, even if it would be another attack.   
After a while, he felt her touch on his head like a blessing. She was standing directly in   
front of him, like the last time she had come to his room, and there was no escaping her   
now.  
  
She sniffled fiercely and wiped her nose on her sleeve. "You could've at least told me   
yourself in the first place." Her voice was rougher now, more ragged. "I know you   
haven't wanted to talk to me, but this should've been an exception."  
  
Kenshin glanced at the bench as another invitation to sit down beside him, but she   
wouldn't. He would have to state this directly, then, not hint around it any more in   
sidelong conversation. He looked up at her, the deep blue eyes and lovely rose lips still   
beautiful even when narrowed in anger. "You're right," he said. "I am sorry for any grief   
I've caused. But it's not that I haven't wished to speak to you, or be near you. I simply   
can't afford the risk."  
  
"What risk?" she demanded.  
  
How could he tell her in a way she'd understand? "Unless Mr. Hiko and Miss Megumi   
can find a way to disentangle my existence from that sword-- and so far, they have not   
found even a hint or a hope that it might be possible-- then all of this, no matter what we   
do, will lead up to a time when you must kill me to remove that demon from the world   
forever. You must be willing to kill me. And I must be willing to die."  
  
Her hand made a little movement at her side, toward him and back. "So you don't want   
me to get too attached? Like kicking a dog so it'll run away on its own instead of   
following you?"  
  
"No," he breathed, "no. Kaoru, I-- " He couldn't face her any more, and bowed his head   
over the pain inside him. "When I'm near you, I want to live. I want to stay in the world,   
living and breathing, with you. And as Battousai, I would fight you to the edge of hell, if   
only to take you with me. We can't do this. I can't."  
  
She dropped to her knees before him. Now her face was tilted up into the light, still   
silvered over with the tracks of her tears. "Go ahead and say it. You can't what?"  
  
It leapt out despite himself, and he cursed his heart for betraying him as he heard his   
voice burst out. "Love you," it said.  
  
Like a lioness, she sprang up from her haunches and pulled him down, her mouth   
devouring and consuming his until there was no more breath for words.  
  
---  
  
"Well, don't both of you look perky," Megumi greeted them behind the cemetery gate.   
"Too many green tea mochi balls again?"  
  
Kaoru glanced guiltily at Kenshin, who did have that sort of strung-out overcaffeinated   
look. It probably meant that she did too. As soon as she started to wrench the bottom of   
his shirt up from his jeans, he'd broken away and held her at a distance. "We can't," he'd   
said, his eyes dark and wild against his pale face. "Not ever again, and not even now." To   
every objection she'd made, he'd simply shaken his head, refusing to acquiesce. No, and   
no, and again no, even though every sinew in his body was straining toward her except   
for the ones that were holding her away.  
  
So there was nothing they could do after that except walk to the cemetery, even though it   
was only an advance planning session. Hiko wasn't going to join them until nearly sunset,   
when he closed the gallery, but Sano was already wandering around in search of trouble.   
He waved at them from the top of the hill, the silvered fishbone in his hand glinting gold   
in the early afternoon light. Megumi was sitting next to a pile of large test tubes, writing   
on their sides with a magic marker to make her latest experimental ofuda.   
  
"At least you won't be eating our supplies the way someone always does," Megumi   
continued, jerking an elbow in Sano's direction. "If one of you wants to help make plugs   
for these, I've got mochi dough in a plastic bag. All you have to do is add some salt and   
knead it in from the outside of the bag so your hands don't get sticky. There's no point   
rolling out the little balls until Mr. Hiko brings the sake to fill the tubes with."  
  
Quickly, Kaoru grabbed the box of salt and shook some into the bag, squeezing the   
mochi paste inside it. A second later, Kenshin headed uphill toward Sano without having   
said a word, his pace quick and jerky. Megumi paused mid-ofuda. "Does he have his   
cranky pants on today or something? I didn't even know he had cranky pants, but maybe   
Sano gave him an old pair."  
  
"Let's please not talk about his pants." Kaoru muttered, blushing furiously.  
  
Megumi gaped at her. "No. You didn't."  
  
"We sure didn't."  
  
"Is everything okay with both of you? Or either of you, or even just you? I mean, if you   
were squishing that mochi dough any harder, I wouldn't just be thinking, 'Why didn't I   
just put unmochified sticky rice in there?', but possibly even, 'I bet she could squish   
mochi out of dry raw rice'."  
  
"I went to talk to him about the anti-demon plans, that's all. Hiko told me about the   
supposedly temporary-Battousai one. What do you think?"  
  
Though still looking concerned, Megumi went along with the change of topic. "Um, well,   
that's really the beauty of that plan. I don't know if any of the Enishigumi have seen us   
yet, but once they do, especially if we're waving around swords and fish, they won't want   
to make nice with us. But they already know Kenshin and they'll want to see if he can   
turn their soul vacuums back on, so they'll have to talk to him all friendly-like. So then he   
can get them when they're not expecting it, and if the whole plan works, he can   
undemonize them at the same time."  
  
"But if it doesn't work, we'll have at least one live hellblade on the soulsucking circuit,   
and maybe two."  
  
"Kenshin sounded pretty sure he can do it, if he can hang onto his self-control long   
enough." Megumi gave Kaoru another long look.  
  
"Oh," Kaoru said, with mixed emotions. "In that case, it's going to work after all."  
  
---  
  
Kenshin kicked a rock back and forth with his new sneakers, hands stuffed into his   
pockets. Walking beside him on the cemetery path, Sano flipped his fishbone in the air.   
After a while, he said, "So what's the plan?"   
  
"Plan?"  
  
"Megumi and Hiko have been muttering to each other about your sword for weeks now.   
They find a way to get rid of it yet?"  
  
"We have a way. Miss Kaoru kills me with the sakabatou."  
  
Sano smacked Kenshin across the back of his head, causing an "oro" to pop out. "I meant   
a different way. Unless that's really what you want, even if they come up with something   
better. Seems pretty lousy to force her into assisting your suicide, though. She doesn't   
want to."  
  
"I know." Kenshin rubbed the base of his topknot, a little reproachfully.  
  
"Come on, there has to be another way. You've had three years to mess with it. What've   
you tried? Freight train? Volcano? Industrial grinder? See, you haven't even started to   
explore the possibilities."  
  
Casually, Kenshin unbuttoned the cuff of one of his sleeves. "Mr. Harris, I believe there   
was an incident last week when you put one of your silver-plated fishbones onto my   
sword's blade to see what would happen."  
  
"Megumi told you? We put the fire out before Hiko got back."  
  
"No, Miss Megumi has not told me anything. I suppose the sword heated up to the flash   
point of some paper nearby?"  
  
"Yeah, after the fish melted. I was pretty bummed; it was one of my fav-- holy jeebus,"   
Sano blurted.   
  
Beneath the rolled-up sleeve, the pattern of a fishbone was still branded into Kenshin's   
arm. "Any mechanical way to destroy it would almost certainly kill me as well, but both   
conditions would be only temporary. In all the things I've experienced over the past three   
years, it has always reappeared next to my side when I revived, no matter what had   
happened to it or me. The only loophole I can think of is to transfer its ownership to   
someone else, who would certainly not deserve the death that I have earned."  
  
Sano shook his head. "Sheesh. Isn't there anything that might make you want to live   
through this?" They had walked down the other side of the hill and come back around it   
by now, heading back toward the girls at the gate. When Kenshin didn't say anything,   
Sano poked him with an elbow and glanced down at him quizzically, followed the   
direction he was looking in, and then absorbed the expression on his face. "Oh, holy   
freaking crap in a sidecar," Sano mumbled.  
  
Kenshin closed his eyes for a moment, nearly stumbling on loose pavement. "My   
thoughts exactly, Mr. Harris."  
  
-----  
  
I was just going to have Kaoru bash Kenshin around a few times and then hand him to the   
scantily-clad undead girl, but evidently Kaoru won the jello wrestling match this time.   
Yet another weak "next chapter" pledge, while Yumi waves her naginata around   
impatiently.   
  
chapter title: the start of Romeo's last line in that play with Juliet.  
  
Okusufodo: I got tired of just vaguely talking about their home village, and finally gave it   
a name. (It's where they make Gileses.)  
  
song tunes: While I make no claims for the poetic merit of the lyrics, they've been written   
for the most interchangeable set of melodies in existence. Tee hee. Anything that   
alternates lines of 8 (or in this case, 7) syllables with lines of 6 (or occasionally 5)   
syllables can be sung to tunes ranging from "The Yellow Rose of Texas" and "La   
Cucaracha" to "Ode to Joy" and "It Came Upon The Midnight Clear". Best-fit renditions   
may require a certain amount of melismata (singing the same syllable over several notes).   
Among my favorites in this genre are the alphabet to the tune of "House of the Rising   
Sun" and the words of "Old MacDonald" to the tune of "Amazing Grace" (you get very   
soulful EIEIOs). 


	8. memory and desire

Blah blah Whedon blah Buffy, blah blah Watsuki blah Kenshin.   
  
Edodale   
By wombat   
  
Chapter 8.2 (again with the endnote)   
  
Sano peered over the cemetery wall into the empty street. "Hiko's cutting it pretty close   
tonight. Sun's going down soon."   
  
Squinting at one last test-tube ofuda, Megumi gave up and put her marker down. "Hope   
he gets here soon. We've got everything for these except the sake, but they're not much   
good without it. Did everyone already make their dinner excuses at home?"   
  
"I'm out getting beef bowl with you gals tonight. Of course, we'll have to get Hiko to   
spring for that afterwards so we'll have authentic gravy stains on our clothing."   
  
"Maybe you do. We don't all walk around wearing souvenir menus, you know. But at   
least you can keep track of the excuse schedule now. Kaoru, are you covered too?"   
  
"Yeah."   
  
Kaoru was sitting tensely beside her, curled up with her arms around her knees. On the   
far side of their lineup, Kenshin was in the next stage of the same position, head down in   
his arms. Sano poked him."Hey, you still awake in there?"   
  
Kenshin didn't lift his head, muffling his answer slightly. "Just conserving my resources,   
Mr. Harris, thank you."   
  
Tires squealed at the end of the street, and then right in front of the cemetery. Sano   
periscoped again to see smoke still rising from the tracks of the little car. Its trunk was   
tied down, gaping over a set of handlebars. Hiko cut the engine, got out, and called,   
"Kenshin. Are you here?"   
  
"He's here," Sano said. Belatedly, Kenshin straightened up and swung himself onto the   
top of the wall.   
  
"You," Hiko said to him. "Get in the car." As Kenshin jumped down and obeyed, Hiko   
walked past him through the gate, where all the others had stood up as well. He hadn't   
pulled anything out of his back seat or trunk, and his hands were empty.   
  
"Um," Megumi said. "Got sake? Weapons? Anything?"   
  
"I'm afraid we're out of sake. Kaoru, that was your bicycle outside school, wasn't it?" His   
question was completely expressionless, like everything else he had said. "Good. I   
wouldn't want to have stolen someone else's."   
  
"You cut my lock?"   
  
He didn't bother to answer that. "There's no point in delaying this decision. Kenshin   
either fights with the hellblade or not at all. If the others see him using any of our   
weapons, they'll mistrust him. After a month of our killing their pawns, they must know   
we're here, but they've never come out to meet us directly. Kenshin is the one they want,   
and I expect they'll emerge if they sense his presence."   
  
"So if we leave him in the car, we'll just do the standard routine, right?"   
  
"If you don't want him to join us tonight, I'll send him back on your bicycle and we can   
continue this fruitless cycle of zombie raids. Otherwise, we can make some real progress   
toward retrieving the sakabatou."   
  
Kaoru looked at the car. The streetlights were starting to come on, showing the bundled   
red hair slumped against the passenger window. Megumi nervously interrupted, "Mr.   
Hiko, I've been thinking. Since we ofudized the cemetery walls, the zombies can't get out,   
so really these four other semi-ex-demons aren't much more than a nuisance if they can't   
eat souls anymore."   
  
"You are nearly correct. They would be incidental to us if they hadn't taken the sakabatou   
from Kaoru's father. However, they have, and we do not know whether your ofuda can   
impede them personally. Without the sakabatou, we cannot banish them, nor destroy   
Kenshin's sword to keep its demon from possessing anyone else ever again. Kaoru, the   
moon will rise soon, and the new flesh-puppets with it. You must decide now."   
  
"All right," she said bitterly. "Give him his sword. I suppose you have the rest of it all   
planned out too."   
  
Hiko was already returning to the car. Opening the passenger door, he folded the front   
seat forward to reach into the back, squeezing Kenshin out to stand limply on the curb   
until Hiko tossed out weapons for him to catch. Hiko's katana, its blade wrapped with   
silver wire. Kaoru's bokken, silver-wrapped as well. And finally, the black sword of   
Battousai.   
  
"That's it?" Sano asked incredulously. "No spears, no crossbows, not even spare rice   
balls?"   
  
"If this fails, no quantity of spears or arrows will save us. If you think I'm eager to do   
this, you're very wrong." Hiko stuffed something from his glove compartment into a   
trenchcoat pocket, slammed the door shut, and went behind the car to pull out Kaoru's   
bicycle. He walked it up to the others and leaned it against the wall. Kenshin followed,   
his eyes blank and not seeming to see anything at all.   
  
Hiko took the silvered weapons from him and passed Kaoru her bokken. "Kenshin will   
take the lead. I suggest we return to that gully where we encountered him; it's a good   
natural funnel that will limit his opponents. Kaoru and I will shadow him by twenty or   
thirty yards, but we will not interfere unless there's no other choice. That means if he's   
captured, killed, or remains Battousai.   
  
"Sano, you guard Megumi and follow us farther back, just close enough to see what   
happens. Megumi, if Kaoru or I should fall to Battousai, return here at once and ride   
Kaoru's bicycle to your shrine. Take the envelope from my glovebox and give it to your   
chief priestess. And even if you hear us calling to you from behind-- especially if we call   
you-- don't stop, and don't look back.   
  
"Do all of you understand me?" He looked from one face to the next, waiting for assent.   
"Kenshin? Kaoru, slap him." Kenshin jerked his head up from the blow, startled. "Good,"   
Hiko said. "Let's go."   
  
---  
  
Enishi whipped around from his work as Tomoe cried out behind him. "Jineh, you sod,"   
he growled, dashing back into the crypt. But she was still alone in there, except for   
whatever intangible phantoms she was cowering away from. "What's wrong then, sweet?   
I'll be back with you in a sec, as soon as I've finished winding up these toys, and then I'll   
stay with you all night."   
  
"My face is achy." Her voice was a low croon, rocking back and forth as her hair tumbled   
loosely over her kimono. "Won't it bruise then, like the color of his eyes? She hit me just   
where the scar is."   
  
Gently, he bent to lift her hand away from the white iris-petal of her cheek, but it was as   
smooth and unmarked as ever. "You mean Yumi? She's been out since yesterday, little   
dove. See, her naginata isn't on the wall. She wouldn't come back without it." He saw a   
metallic flash in her other hand and leaped down to wrestle it away from her. There were   
already charred lines where she'd traced the hair ornament's silver caps across one arm,   
burning the rough shape of a fish. "Tomoe love, no. Give it here now, and I'll make it up   
to you later. Drop it!" he said more sharply as she reached for the sword at his shoulder.   
  
She dropped the long pin, letting it fall, and huddled up with her arms around her. He   
hissed as the silver blistered his fingers, but tucked it into his long coat's breast pocket.   
Surreptitiously, he checked to make sure her tanto still hung in its sheath at the back of   
his belt. "Now, what would you want with my watou, then?" he tried to tease her,   
ashamed for losing his temper. "Can't put up your hair with a sword, can you? Soon as   
I'm done, I'll comb it for you and braid it up, hey?"   
  
"It had a sapphire," she whispered. "Your sword, it did. So blue it should've had stars in   
it, and a little silver moon. Or black ships and a big white whale."   
  
"Yes, it did." Enishi remembered it well, how the kashira would flicker and flare like   
heaven's fire every time his sword took another soul. "And you had a topaz, and Yumi   
had an emerald, and Jineh had some cheap purple quartz. Back in the good old days."   
  
Tomoe didn't seem to have heard him. "She has sapphires too. Two of them, on her head.   
He wants them to put his fires out, but he's drowning in them first. Fishies biting out his   
heart, nibble nibble." She pinched her burnt arm in demonstration and suddenly fell   
unconscious again, her hair pooling darkly on the floor.   
  
Enishi shook her shoulder a little, felt the pulse at her throat, and finally sighed and went   
back outside. As the full moon rose, its light washed over the lines of flesh-puppets laid   
out before him. They rose under his command and went out into the night. Freed from   
duty, he returned to his sister, the sword-pale silver of his head bowing over her in the   
darkness.   
  
---  
  
The dry gully was even dryer now, the sparse grass shriveled to crisp husks that crackled   
underfoot. Fallen leaves were starting to blow about, but the shrubbery on the banks   
above the gully floor still offered plenty of cover. From her position, Kaoru couldn't see   
Sano or Megumi at all. Kenshin was about two yards below their level and twenty-five   
ahead, perhaps a quarter of the distance from her hiding place to theirs.   
  
"Are you sure he's ready for this?" she whispered to Hiko, who was crouched beside her.   
Kenshin wasn't even standing up; he was half-curled on the ground resting an elbow on   
one knee, the other leg tucked under it. His katana trailed away from his hands at an   
awkward-looking angle, its bare black blade glittering in the dust. The moonbeams struck   
sparks of color from the jewels at its hilt: blue and yellow, green and violet, fiery burning   
red.   
  
Hiko shrugged, but there was a tenseness to the motion that belied his casual tone. "If he's   
learned everything I've taught him in the past month, he's ready. If he hasn't, he never   
will be. Speaking of which," he rummaged in his coat pocket and handed her the stuff   
he'd brought from his car, "I believe he must have started to make these for you within   
days of our first meeting here. This sort of thing takes time."   
  
"Shiny," Kaoru said, carefully unrolling the metallic mesh so it wouldn't jingle. It was a   
pair of gloves, each one covered with fine silver rings sewn flat to its surface. When she   
held them up to the light, she could see the tiny stitches, pink or purple or blue threads   
securing each ring down to the black leather backing.   
  
"Very resourceful of him," Hiko said. "I believe he salvaged the silver wire from that first   
night, wrapped it around a pencil, and cut straight down one side. All he had to do then   
was flatten out the helical skew in each ring and ply a needle. And, of course, estimate   
your hand size. I expect they do fit you, though." They did, with enough space for her to   
move and flex her hands. "Leave them on. You'll need them."   
  
"Why?"   
  
He told her the rest of the plan. If below them, Kenshin heard her involuntary cry of   
protest, he made no move to show it. His shoulders remained slumped down as he sat   
there in the dust, waiting for Enishi's zombies to come.   
  
---  
  
Megumi smelled the flesh-puppets before she heard or saw them. She wrinkled her nose   
and looked down the gully, and there they were, a haggard mass shambling forward.   
Sano was twitching nervously at her side. "Guard you, he says. How'm I supposed to   
guard you with just fishbones?"   
  
"They're shiny happy fishbones," she reassured him. "We found out last week that the   
silver-plating works on them, so that's all good. Besides, Mr. Hiko said those guys won't   
be interested in us anyway."   
  
"So what am I guarding you from?"   
  
"I dunno. Straggler zombies? Angry squirrels? Semi-ex-demons?" They both held very   
still as the main group passed below, stringing out into a narrower line because of the   
gully's limitations. Kenshin had seen them by now and stood up, but was simply waiting   
for them to reach him.   
  
"I could've done without that last addition to the guest list." Slowly and carefully, to   
minimize the shrubbery's movement around them, Sano reached one arm behind him and   
started moving it around beneath his jean jacket.   
  
Megumi couldn't figure out what he was doing. "Sanosuke Harris, are you giving yourself   
a wedgie?"   
  
With a sigh of relief, he produced a large squirt gun from the back of his jeans. "It always   
looks so cool in the movies when they stuff a gun down their waistbands. Slipped down   
on me, but at least it didn't leak. That would've been really embarrassing."   
  
"I bet it looks a lot less cool when they accidentally shoot their butts off. What's that for?"   
  
"Filled it up last time from the main supply but didn't use it. Planned to try out cool   
flamethrower effects with it this time, but I think we'd better just use it to spritz down   
your test tubes." He nudged Megumi's backpack, which she had stuffed the ofuda tubes,   
mochi bag, and bundled pine needles into.   
  
"No way." Her eyes sparkled with delight.   
  
He grinned back. "Way," he said, and squirted her with a few drops of sake.   
  
---  
  
"Not bad," Hiko mused. Kaoru ducked away from a few horrific droplets that had flown   
all the way up to them, then peeked back out. Kenshin had worked his way through the   
first ten or so already. There was still an overall slackness to his posture that worried her,   
but he was snapping out of it for a few seconds at a time, cleanly sweeping through each   
flesh-puppet as it came to him. "At least he knows enough now to aim for the joints.   
Once the pieces can't move, they're no further threat to him. He's even varying the   
sequence to find the best pattern."   
  
Kaoru watched the next sweep carefully, as well as she could. With Kenshin's back   
turned to them, his body was blocking much of their direct view, but she could still see   
the way the pieces scattered. An upward jerk of his katana, two halves starting to peel   
apart to each side, and then an S-curve of three parallel cuts. The first one was across the   
shoulders, the second across the elbows and hips; as the forearms fell, he severed the   
wrists with the knees and kicked the flopping feet aside. She winced. "He's walking   
around in gumbo down there. We'll have to get him another pair of shoes again, you   
know."   
  
"Perhaps you should give him a set of rubbers."   
  
She winced again. Was everyone speculating about them? "Mr. Hiko, that's really-- "   
  
Hiko snorted, not unkindly. "Wellies. Overshoes. Whatever it is you call rain boots here."   
  
"Oh."   
  
"Miss Kamiya-Summers, the private lives of students seldom hold much interest for me,   
unless their work suffers as a consequence. However." He stopped to watch the next   
dismemberment.   
  
Reluctantly, Kaoru prompted him. "However?"   
  
"If the current state of affairs-- let me rephrase that," he added at her expression. "If   
matters should continue in their current direction, I am concerned that you will be unable   
to use the sakabatou on him once we recover it. Not only that, but you may resist any   
attempt by others to take your place."   
  
"I thought you said I was the only one who could kill him," she said, and then, "No. Oh   
no. You wouldn't."   
  
"I said you had the best right to do so because of your father's blood, and the best chance   
because of his training. But if you should abdicate that right-- "   
  
"I'm not letting you-- " she interrupted, then stopped herself.   
  
"Exactly." Hiko ignored the latest wet ripping sounds from the gully as he turned his full   
attention on her. "Perhaps you don't understand the full gravity of the situation. This is   
one of the reasons Kenshin proposed the present scenario, so you could see Battousai for   
yourself and understand why he must die."   
  
"This was his idea? But-- " She accepted the clean linen handkerchief he offered her, and   
pressed it over her eyes.   
  
"As he may have told you already, there is a significant risk that if he permanently returns   
to being Battousai, he may attempt to cause you to become possessed as well. Perhaps   
you might prefer that to killing him, but I very much doubt that anyone who cares about   
you would agree with that decision. Your soul would be lost, and whatever was left of   
you would become a formidable enemy. I cannot allow that. Do you understand?"   
  
"Is that a threat?"   
  
"Consider it fair warning." Hiko grimaced as his glasses were slightly spattered, and   
removed them to clean with another handkerchief.   
  
"How many of those do you have?"   
  
"Rather a lot, really." He put them back on. "I will tell you now that in fact, I hold both   
you and Kenshin in high esteem. If your deaths should become necessary, I would be   
very seriously grieved. But I would consider it far worse to stand aside and allow both of   
you not only to walk into hell together, but recreate it on earth."   
  
---  
  
He was tired, so tired. As if his arms belonged to someone else, he watched them raise   
and slash the black sword over and over again. The far edge of the flesh-puppet horde   
was visible now. He'd cut through at least half of them so far, though he'd lost count--   
fifty? sixty? Enishi must have raided graves that were decades old; some of these   
creatures were little more than strips of bone held together with leathery withered skin.   
  
His socks squelched unpleasantly. That was the worst of his physical discomfort.   
Compared to his heart, the sword was as light as air, dipping and soaring like a carrion   
crow. The next flesh-puppet was half-clad in mold, pale green as firefly light. Or green   
tea mochi balls, or the wasabi ones Sano had brought in as a prank, though they'd turned   
out to be surprisingly tasty. They'd been sweet, yet fiery, like Kaoru's mouth on his.   
  
No. He could not linger on that memory and stay sane. Not unless it was sane to seriously   
consider her as Battousai's consort in eternal unlife, even for a moment. He wanted her,   
not just for her loveliness or her warrior's poise, but for the fierce purity of her heart. He   
could never have her that way except as an ordinary mortal, and he could never be that   
again.   
  
Bone shattered beneath his blade, a chip flying out to cut his cheek. He kicked another set   
of severed limbs aside and surveyed the horde again. There was an odd ripple of   
movement at the far edge now, some of the creatures turning and falling in wide swaths   
like a foul harvest being reaped.   
  
He didn't have time to puzzle it out. Another creature before him, another curling slash, a   
kick to clear the way. And yet another, and another, and then suddenly there were no   
more of them.   
  
He stared out into the moonlight. The rest of the horde had been felled from behind, and   
his unexpected ally was standing no more than ten paces away, her naginata gleaming   
wetly. "Yumi," he said.   
  
---  
  
Megumi clapped her hand over Sano's pursed lips. "I know there's a saying about   
whistling in the graveyard," she whispered into his ear, "but this is not a good time to   
demonstrate it, and I'm not even sure what it means!"   
  
He nosed Megumi's hand aside and continued to ogle the woman passing beneath them,   
her naginata sweeping out with sultry grace. She didn't look much older than them, but   
her clothes did: a bodice that seemed to be no more than a corset with sleeves attached   
below the shoulders, her waist further cinched by a wide belt with a few objects dangling   
from it, and a leather skirt that would have been unwalkably tight if it hadn't been slit to   
the hip, high enough to suggest there was nothing underneath. Her dark hair was loosely   
pinned up, long strands tumbling down across those bare shoulders, and Megumi yanked   
Sano back from poking his head out into the open. "I don't believe it. You have actual   
drool hanging out of your mouth."   
  
He swiped his sleeve across his face and pointed in the direction she'd gone. "Hubba. She   
not only kicks ass, she's got a bodacious one herself. That was the most magically   
babelicious sight I have ever seen. You could at least let me see a little more of her."   
  
"So make a different hole in the shrubbery then, instead of falling out of that one. You   
don't want her to see you, do you?"   
  
"As much of me as possible, baby." When Megumi rolled her eyes at him, Sano toned   
down his playful leer. "C'mon, she's helping out Kenshin, so she's got to be on our side,   
right? Kind of like the Lara Croft version of Hiko?"   
  
"Sano, I swear you don't ever listen when we talk about the old Battousaigumi. Naginata,   
slutty clothing, that's got to be his old crony Yumi."   
  
"Those are not slutty clothes," Sano defended. "They're provocatively sensual, for a   
refined adult palate."   
  
"Yeah, the kind of palate that drools. At least she didn't notice us any more than the   
zombies she's mowing down did. I guess either Kenshin's going to call us down to   
introduce us eventually, or he'll deal with her first."   
  
"Lucky bastard. Well, they're talking, not fighting, so I guess we just wait."   
  
"So what's going on out there?" Megumi asked after a while. She'd emptied Sano's sake   
pistol, misting the inside of each of her previously-written test tubes before adding a plug   
of mochi with a pine-needle fuse down the middle, and carefully wrapping them with   
tissues into her backpack so they wouldn't clink. He didn't say anything. She leaned over   
to nudge her own peephole through the branches. They were far enough away to obscure   
most of the details, but the general idea was obvious. Megumi pulled back to poke his   
shoulder. "Hey, Sano?"   
  
"Yeh?"   
  
"I don't think we're old enough to be watching that."   
  
"Neh."   
  
She shoved an extra tissue into his hand. "So help me Inari, if you can't keep your mouth   
shut, at least keep it dry. And that better be a test tube in your pocket!"   
  
-----  
  
(The original version of chapter 8 got really bizarre after this, and was significantly   
longer than any of the previous chapters. Once I had a nap and came back to it, I was all,   
like, horrified. Chapter 8.1 simply cut off before all the freaky Battousai action started up.   
8.2 is essentially 8.1 plus the following waff biscuit that used to be the placeholder for   
chapter 9, and was offered in the way of an apology to anyone who actually read the   
original version (8.0) during the few hours it was up. Or just for a random dose of waff.)   
  
-----  
  
WAFF Intermission   
  
From his sleeping bag on the workbench, Kenshin blinked awake at the kiln room's   
ceiling, dimly lit by the rosy light of dawn. He felt better than he usually did the next day   
after having died. Or at least, he had that mental haze that tended to follow him around   
for a while after. It always took longer for his memories to patch back together than his   
body. He wasn't sure yet just what had happened, but for now, he felt content.   
  
He wrinkled his nose contemplatively, scenting the hint of a crisp autumn breeze through   
the open gap he'd left at his window. Life was good. He was in a warm, safe place. His   
laundry from yesterday must be nearly dry by now. Kaoru was asleep beside him. He had   
new socks.   
  
Wait a moment. Kaoru?   
  
Gingerly, he flexed his shoulder beneath her head, swirling her hair against his neck. She   
made a soft sleepy sound of protest and tightened her arm around his chest, sliding her   
knee a little farther up his thigh.   
  
This would have been such a nice way to start the morning if he only knew why it was   
happening. He had no idea what she was doing here, but he couldn't very well throw her   
out of bed. For one thing, it would be extremely rude. For another, she was wedged   
between him and the closed sleeping bag zipper, with his arm on that side pinned   
beneath the curve of her waist.   
  
It had something to do with the laundry, didn't it? He'd just finished washing his socks   
yesterday when she'd come in and kissed him. No, that didn't make any sense either. The   
laundry issue gave him a further thought, though, and he lifted the edge of the sleeping   
bag to peek down inside.   
  
He was stark raving naked. Oro!   
  
Kaoru made another one of those heart-melting sleepy noises at the cold air, and he   
quickly tucked the edge back down again. Well, at least she had clothes on, a loose shirt   
and leggings. Her hand flexed again against his ribs and she nudged her nose up beneath   
his chin. "Cold," she murmured belatedly.   
  
Oh good, she was awake. Sort of. He whispered her name in a tone he hoped sounded   
more tender than panicked.   
  
"Mmm?"   
  
"I'm terribly sorry, but I'm afraid I can't recall how we got this way?"   
  
"Mmm. Couldn't sleep after what happened. Walked here in the middle of the night." Her   
yawn sent warm breath across his collarbone. "Climbed in through your window. Sat here   
in the dark for a while, until I got sleepy. You were still out cold anyway." As an   
afterthought, she added, "Do you want pajamas?"   
  
"Nothing... improper happened?"   
  
A brief shiver of tension broke her loose sprawl. "Not with me. Unless you're still a no-   
kissing zone. Just your thing with Yumi."   
  
Yumi? But he hadn't seen Yumi for ages. Had he? While he mulled this over, Kaoru   
relaxed against him again, falling fully back into sleep.   
  
The door tapped and opened. Mr. Hiko looked nearly as astonished to see her there as   
Kenshin had felt. Kenshin did the one-shouldered face mime of "It's not my fault," and   
was answered with a very skeptical look and a thumb-jerk toward the library before the   
door silently closed again.   
  
Carefully, Kenshin shifted Kaoru's arm off him and squirmed out of the top of the   
sleeping bag, tucking his pillow beneath her head to replace his shoulder. He found the   
least-damp items on the laundry rack, put them on, and slipped outside to the hall.   
  
-----  
  
(In a kinder, gentler world, chapter 9 or 10 might've started this way. Alas, it is not to be.   
I suppose it's for the best-- Kenshin would've had his mellow totally harshed once his   
memory came back anyway. At least if there's no memory lapse, he can start trying to   
cope right away, instead of spending a few days trying to figure out why everyone's   
looking at him funny, during which dialogue would mostly consist of:   
  
"Dude! I can't believe you did that freaky-ass thing with the knife!"   
"Oro?"   
"You know, that-- that *thing* that's so freaky that PG-13 description kept eluding it!"  
"...Oro??"   
"And if I were Kaoru, not only would I run screaming away from you from now on, but   
I'd make sure you were cut into quivering bits behind me first!"   
"...Oro?!!"   
  
The course of true love never did run smooth. O Kenshin, Kenshin, wherefore art thou   
Battousai?) 


	9. my frolic falcon

You name it, I disclaim it, especially where Buffy and Kenshin are concerned.   
  
Edodale   
By wombat   
  
Chapter 9   
  
Yumi grinned, delighted. "Battousai! It really is you out here! Where the hell've you   
been?" The moonlight outlined her as a sheaf of silver curves, as sleek and deadly as her   
weapon's edge, but she held that aside as she walked forward to embrace him tightly. "I'm   
so glad to see you again, Bats," she breathed, nuzzling his face with hers before pulling   
back. "But-- oh no, your eyes changed too, didn't they. Are we all stuck like this now?"   
  
"You're looking very well, Yumi." Kenshin's smile was sincere, if not as exuberant as   
hers. He didn't know how he would have dealt with Jineh or Enishi, neither of whom was   
likely to trust him now; open combat would've likely been the only option then. But on   
the other hand, while he knew Yumi or Tomoe would be easier to approach, it would   
ultimately be a greater betrayal because of the trust they had in him. "Did you come out   
to find me?"   
  
"Nah. The boys've been saying you had to be around here somewhere, but I'm just   
coming home from work. A girl's gotta eat, y'know."   
  
"Work?" He surveyed her outfit, brow furrowed.   
  
She shimmied demonstratively. "A little song, a little dance, a little booty up against the   
pants. I can even work the naginata into the act, like my own private stage pole. Good   
clean money for part-time work, no fluid exchange involved, and they even have a   
benefits package. And hell, it gets me out of here and away from the others."   
  
"You're not getting along well, then?" Kenshin relaxed enough to pull some rice paper   
out of his back pocket. He handed one sheet to Yumi for her naginata and used the other   
to wipe his katana's blade clean. Casually, he led her toward a dead tree that had fallen to   
the gully floor, only a few yards from where he knew Kaoru and Hiko were hidden, and   
motioned for her to sit down on its trunk before he did.  
  
"Thanks. No, Tomoe went nuts after you left, and she's all Enishi cares about any more.   
The only getting along now is Jineh trying to get into my underkimono, same as ever.   
What's so funny?"   
  
He couldn't keep himself from laughing. "Yumi, I don't think I ever saw you wear an   
underkimono after the first time we met."   
  
"You're right. Oh, Bats," she sighed, high spirits suddenly drooping. "I've missed you so   
much. I didn't believe Jineh when he said he killed you, but the next thing I knew, our   
weapons didn't have the old bang zoom and we got dusted all over the place. So now   
you're back, and we're back, but what do we do now?"   
  
"All of your weapons are dead?"   
  
"We all tried. Except for Tomoe, because Enishi's afraid she might hurt herself, so he   
hangs onto her tanto now. But the rest of us three-- yeah, we can kill with them just fine,   
but the souls go off to never-never land instead of doing us any good. You too?"   
  
"Mine's been just the same," he not-quite-lied. "But I think I know a remedy."   
  
---   
  
At Kaoru's side in the shrubbery, Hiko was scanning their quickest path down from the   
embankment. "Stay focused," he reminded her. "Once he gets their weapons down, wait   
until they have either enough distance or distraction that we can reach the sword and   
naginata before they can. Hold your bokken until you actually have his katana in hand.   
Even then, return your bokken to your hip in case you need it again. And above all, make   
sure your gloves stay on." He had already pulled on his own pair, a set of chainmail   
gauntlets with the mellow sheen of tarnished silver. They looked much more substantial   
than the ring-sewn gloves Kenshin had improvised for her, but also much heavier.   
  
"You're sure this is the only way?" Even to herself, her tone sounded hopeless.   
  
"It's far too late for any of us to back out now." Hiko turned back toward the two on the   
fallen tree.   
  
"No. I'll do it." Kaoru swallowed hard when Kenshin finished speaking to Yumi and   
stood to face her, letting her pull his shirt out from his waistband as he'd refused to let   
Kaoru do, just a few hours before. Even as she raised her naginata's blade against his   
chest and he poised his katana's point in the moonlit shadow of her cleavage, Yumi was   
looking up at him with trust, hope, and love, all the things he had already rejected from   
Kaoru.   
  
---   
  
"It's risky," Kenshin said, sitting beside Yumi on the log. His katana lay across both their   
laps, and she was tracing her fingers around the emerald in its tsuba that had once   
adorned the ishizuki of her naginata, which leaned beside her. "I don't know if it will   
work, and you needn't consent to it."   
  
She nudged him fondly with a bare shoulder. "Bats, you tease. Here you go telling me   
your idea, and then you don't want to do it? It makes sense to me. Come on, let's try it."   
  
"If it doesn't work, you could die. Forever. Not just turned to dust that can come back   
together again. Are you sure?"   
  
"Y'know, I'd forgotten how much of a sweetie you can be when you want to. Listen," she   
said, suddenly serious, "I can't stand living halfway like this. I thought that's why Jineh   
wanted the sakabatou, so we could die right this time. Either way this goes, I'll be better   
off. And even if I don't make it, you'll be back to your old self again. It'll be worth it just   
to know you're going to go rip him apart. So do it."   
  
"All right." Kenshin took a deep breath and stood before her, closing his eyes as she   
tugged his shirt free. The night air was cool against his skin, and her naginata's blade was   
even colder as he helped her rest the point between his ribs, beneath the loose cloth.   
Yumi shivered too as he raised his katana above her and down into the front of her   
bodice, sliding the tip across the delicate flesh between her breasts. Kaoru, he thought.   
Kaoru, I'm so sorry.   
  
---   
  
Disgusted, Jineh stalked out of the crypt. Enish was nursemaiding Tomoe again, sparing   
scarcely enough attention to confirm that yes, he had finished the new group of flesh-   
puppets, nearly emptying the cemetery's grounds to do so, he'd sent them off on the hunt   
for the night, and would Jineh please sod off now?   
  
There was going to be more friction once they got hold of Battousai, Jineh could tell. He   
suspected that Enishi's ultimate motive was far different from his own, and was bound to   
involve Tomoe. But at least both men had the same means in mind: draining the red-   
haired brat's power with the black sword, and then vaporizing his body with the   
sakabatou.   
  
He narrowed his eyes at the angle of the moon. Yumi should have returned long ago.   
Perhaps he would enjoy a private hunt for her tonight. He set off among the rustling trees.   
  
---   
  
With a firm thrust, Kenshin plunged the katana into Yumi's body. Her hands clenched on   
the naginata's pole, but otherwise she didn't move, still gazing up into his face. He could   
feel her life pouring into the black blade, rousing the demon within. And at last, just   
when he thought he must have killed her, Yumi smiled as she saw his eyes blaze into   
Battousai's fiery gold, and she drove her naginata up into his heart.   
  
He pulled his blade out of her at once, letting her weapon drink its fill of him. As Yumi's   
eyes blazed golden as well, she pulled the naginata back and away, stabbing its blade   
down into the ground. He planted his katana in the log, placing his tsuba at the same level   
as her ishizuki. Her emerald had returned there to its former place.   
  
She leaned forward as she rose, pressing her body up against the length of his. "We're   
back," she said, nipping his chin. "And I'm hungry."   
  
He smiled his old cruel smile at her. "I'm hungry too," he said.   
  
Languidly, she caressed the pole of her naginata, not drawing it back up yet. "Do you   
want to go out and hunt in the city, or should we find Jineh and share him between us?"   
  
He caught her wrist, bringing it to his mouth to rake his teeth across it and retrace it with   
his tongue. His other hand slid down her side and her taut narrow waist, over the curve of   
her hip to the high slit in her leather skirt, and then inside it to pull her hard against him.   
"Not that kind of hungry," he said.   
  
"Mmm." She rubbed herself against him, rising up on her toes like a cat being stroked. "It   
has been a long time. And getting longer every second, right?"   
  
"Bad girl," he chided, and pulled her down with him. The wrestling match that followed   
rolled them farther away until he was sitting upright over her, trapping her body between   
his knees. They were back in the charnel zone now, where the parched earth had been   
watered with the flesh-puppets' spillage. "Who's my bad girl, then?"   
  
"You know I am, Bats." She writhed at him invitingly, slippery with mud, and pulled one   
hand free to stroke his face. "And bad girls have to be punished, don't they? I've got a   
knife. I might be dangerous. You'd better teach me a lesson." Her hand went to her belt,   
where a small sheath had hung unnoticed.   
  
---   
  
Hiko breathed a faint sigh of relief. "He's put a fair amount of distance between us.   
Perhaps now-- damn it all, is that a knife?"   
  
Narrowing her eyes through the leaves, Kaoru nodded tentatively. "It has that pointy look   
to it. Pretty small, though. More like a tanto than a wakizashi. Think we need to worry   
about it?"   
  
"If it's a hellblade, then we certainly do. It could have the same soul-destroying powers as   
any of their other weapons. Remember what Kenshin said about the first half of his scar?   
The thrown wakizashi? We'd be vulnerable to them outside our attack range, because if   
we throw the katana or naginata at them and miss..."   
  
"Then it's major bad juju. He's getting it away from her, though-- ow, she cut him!"   
Kaoru sat back suddenly, startled at the trickle of pale fire down the shadow of Kenshin's   
side. It came and went so quickly that anyone at a further distance might have mistaken it   
for a flash of reflected moonlight. "He's-- that's not normal blood, is it?"   
  
"No. And the wound is already healing, too. If that blade wasn't black before, it will be   
now. Damn," Hiko said again. "Well, what do you think? Should we risk it now, or wait   
to see whether he can disarm her?"   
  
"I think-- " She winced again, watching, and then froze. "I think he's letting her cut him.   
Look."   
  
Hiko looked. "What's that stupid pup playing at now? He's putting himself at more risk   
than we need from him."   
  
Yumi was tracing her hand up Kenshin's arm in a slow caress, pushing his unfastened   
sleeve nearly up to his shoulder while pulling her knife's blade through his flesh. A   
comet's tail of light flickered and faded down toward his wrist. As he leaned to kiss her,   
her arms slid up his back beneath his shirt, which began to bloom bright nebulae.   
  
"Maybe... maybe he's letting her drain off more of Battousai's power from him, so he'll be   
less of a threat to us?" Kaoru suggested hopefully. "Do you think Kenshin's still in   
control?"   
  
"We can only hope so. Ah, he's finally taken the knife from her," Hiko said, but pressed   
Kaoru back down when she tried to rise. "Wait. We must be completely certain, or risk   
everything."   
  
"Certain of what?"   
  
"Whether he is still Kenshin, or whether he's been overtaken by--"   
  
If not for the firm grip Hiko still had on her arm, Kaoru might have succumbed to her   
sudden urge to get up and run, as far and fast as possible, from what was starting to   
happen on the gully floor. Even with her face turned desperately away, she could still   
hear the moans and love-whispers: Yumi gasping out, "Harder. Cut me harder," followed   
by a low laugh that was even more terrifying because it was in Kenshin's voice.   
  
Hiko exhaled slowly and finished his sentence. "--Battousai." Slowly, he relaxed his grip   
on Kaoru's sleeve from a restrictive pinion to a steadying hand. "You don't have to look   
at them." His voice had lost all expression again. "Keep your eyes on their weapons.   
Don't think about anything else. I'll watch them and tell you when it's time."   
  
---   
  
Sano jerked backwards from his peephole, startling Megumi. For the past ten minutes or   
so, she had resigned herself to pondering ways to use the test-tube ofuda: was the vapor   
pressure of sake enough to actually shoot out the mochi plugs like little sticky missiles if   
she heated the tubes? Or would the mochi just trap the expanding vapor until the glass   
shattered, or was there not enough sake in each tube to make a difference? "Had enough   
of the show?" she asked, a little crossly. And then she got a good look at his face, or as   
good as she could get in the leaf-dappled moonlight.   
  
"Don't tell me things got too hentai even for you, Mr. Overfiend."   
  
"Take a look for yourself."   
  
She couldn't make anything out at first. Compared to the shadowed shrubbery she and   
Sano were concealed in, even the full moon's pale radiance was glaringly bright, and the   
two figures of interest were some distance away. "Where are they? Oh, okay, I can see   
something moving now. Hey, Kenshin's got Yumi pinned down. Go Kenshin! But what's   
he..." Her voice trailed off as the tableau fell into place.   
  
"Oh," she breathed, sitting back. "Oh, jeepers haploid crikey. Um. Maybe it's not as bad   
as it looks, though. Maybe it's just--"   
  
"Just something that makes it look like he's using a knife the way some people use   
flavored love oils? It's a good thing Kaoru hasn't snuggled up to him after all."   
  
"But that's got to be Battousai out there now, not the real Kenshin. Our guy Kenshin still   
apologizes every time he hits you in sparring practice, you know that. Sano, you can't   
think-- Sano, where are you going?"   
  
"I'm going to help Kaoru kill this thing."   
  
She smacked him across the back of his knees with her backpack, making him stumble to   
the ground among the trees. "Mr. Hiko told us to stay here so we can see whether this   
works and go tell people if it doesn't. You're definitely getting a D in Remedial Staying-   
Here right now."   
  
"Dunno about you, but I can't just sit here and watch this."   
  
"But Sano, all you've got is a couple of fishbones, and that won't-- hey! Let go of my   
backpack!"   
  
His face was grimmer than she had ever seen it, all of his usual carefree air entirely gone.   
"You let go, or I'm going to drag you all the way there."   
  
---   
  
Almost to himself, Hiko murmured, "He's tossed the knife aside. Good lad."   
  
Kaoru hazarded another look, but ducked away again. She hardly recognized her own   
voice. The words emerged flatly distorted by the effort to keep them free of tears or   
nausea, she wasn't sure which. "It's about time. He's being very thorough, isn't he?"   
  
He checked the silver wire wrapped around his katana blade one last time, occasionally   
glancing over it into the gully. "A bit longer, if you please. We need both of them to be   
thoroughly distracted to minimize the risk of them killing us or worse. If we're fortunate,   
the naginata will drain them both. If not, you must use his sword to kill him."   
  
"Why me?" she asked again, as if this time he might change the answer.   
  
Patiently, he repeated, "Because whether Kenshin or Battousai, he'll likely be unwilling   
to kill you. That will inhibit his side of the duel, or at least so we hope. I assure you that if   
he shows no softness toward you, I'll take over as soon as I can. Remember, without the   
sakabatou, this will only be a temporary death for him. He'll be alive again by sunrise.   
The alternative is that by then, we'll all be dead."   
  
"If I'd known all of this when you suggested bringing him tonight, I wouldn't've let you."   
  
"The choice was not entirely yours," Hiko said. "Kenshin was the one who refused to let   
me tell you or Megumi about this last phase of it. Are you ready?"   
  
"As ready as I'm going to be."   
  
Hiko turned to look at her with narrowed eyes, but said only one word in response.   
"Now."   
  
---   
  
He grabbed Kaoru by the arm and half-dragged her up from the shrubbery, leaping down   
to the gully floor and softening her fall. His long strides outstripped her; by the time she   
had reached the log, he had already pulled the naginata free, whirled to cross the further   
distance needed, and plunged it straight through the passionately entangled pair on the   
ground. He leaned his entire weight down into them, keeping the blade's point from   
slipping or jerking free in the death-struggle.   
  
Yumi shrieked in anguish, golden eyes wide and terrified. And yet her arms were still   
protectively cradling the red-haired form that had already fallen limp above her, even as   
an eerie fountain of light pulsed up from her body and through his back. The light welled   
up into the naginata, making its emerald blaze like a green sun, and a shower of sparks   
sizzled out from Hiko's silver gauntlets as Yumi's eyes began to fade.   
  
The naginata was glowing soft red now, both the metal blade and wooden shaft   
consuming themselves and crumbling apart. As it disintegrated into ash, Yumi sprawled   
back, still and silent. The emerald's light went out as it tumbled onto the ground, the only   
part that remained.   
  
Hiko closed his eyes for a moment to readjust to the darkness, drawing his katana just in   
case. When he opened them again, both bodies before him were still lying equally   
motionless. "Kaoru," he called behind him.   
  
She ran up to join him, the black sword in hand. "His katana was stuck pretty deep into   
the log. Took a mo to pull it back out."   
  
"Perhaps we won't need it after all, at least not tonight. Would you like to check on   
Kenshin?"   
  
"Um. That's okay, you can do it for me. I'll just go sit down over there for a while."   
  
He shrugged sardonically. Perhaps alienation of affection hadn't been part of Kenshin's   
plan, but it would be likely better for Kaoru in the long run. Hiko nudged the toe of his   
boot between the two bodies and rolled them apart. The naginata holes in both of them   
had vanished when the weapon did. After a minute or two, Hiko thoughtfully inserted his   
toe under the boy's back and gave his kidney some extra nudges until a groan came out   
the other end. "Your fly is open," Hiko reminded him.   
  
One nerveless arm flopped up to refasten it, but nothing else moved, not so much as an   
eyelash.   
  
"Did everything proceed as you expected? I assume that with the others, direct combat   
would have been more likely, and we would have had to finish you off afterward. Kaoru   
seems a bit nonplussed by your choice of tactics in this case."   
  
Another groan, then feebly, "How does Yumi look?"   
  
"Remarkably indecent, but otherwise intact. I assume she'll regain consciousness as well   
eventually."   
  
"Her naginata's gone?"   
  
"Indeed." Hiko folded his arms and tapped his toe for a bit. "Do you require any   
assistance for the return journey? Or perhaps for sitting up?"   
  
"No." He was still lying flat on his back. The one hand he had managed to move was now   
draped limply over his stomach, and the other one twitched at his side. "Just give me a   
moment. I-- I'd like to speak with Kaoru, if she'll let me."   
  
Hiko replaced his katana in the looped hook that held it at his hip. "I'll ask her. But don't   
expect much." He considered the still-unconscious Yumi, draped his coat over her as the   
best effort that could be made toward decency, and carried her back to the fallen tree to   
wait until she and Kenshin could walk by themselves again. There were a number of   
sacrifices he'd been prepared to make tonight. A hernia from carrying two people was not   
one of them.   
  
---   
  
Kaoru left Battousai's sword with Hiko. As she approached, she could see a faint glow   
from the charred hole in Kenshin's pink shirt-- its color was luridly evident, even when   
moon-bleached. The edges of the cloth must still be smoldering, she thought with a   
twinge of sympathy. She knelt at his side and slipped her forearm behind him, levering   
him partially upright. He still seemed pathetically wiggly, so she sat behind him to prop   
him up with her shoulder against his back. She faced resolutely to the side as she poked at   
the dirt with the tip of her bokken. Her hands felt sweaty inside her gloves, but she didn't   
take them off.   
  
"I hope you're happy," she said. "Not only did your plan work, but now you'll have one of   
your old girlfriends back with you again. Guess you won't need to put up with a stupid   
little girl like me any more, will you?"   
  
His head was bowed down to his chest, apparently as much at gravity's mercy as the rest   
of him, but she could feel a ripple of tension slide through him like a garter snake passing   
half-seen through a meadow. "Don't talk like that," he said. "There's nothing left now   
between Yumi and me. Not the way things could be between the two of us."   
  
"There isn't anything between us. There can't ever be. You said so yourself just a few   
hours ago." Despite herself, she had a little shiver of sensation at the memory, caught   
between the warmth of his body on one side and the cool night breeze on the other.   
"Definitely not anything like you've been doing out here for the past hour."   
  
"It worked, didn't it?" He was definitely recovering his strength now, with enough energy   
to gather his legs beneath him. "Far easier than fighting an all-out duel with Jineh or   
Enishi, anyway. Think of it as psychological warfare on Yumi."  
  
She thought this over. "I guess so," she said reluctantly.   
  
"I'm sorry if you were caught in the backblast, and I promise I won't be doing that again   
with either of the boys once we meet them." Reaching over his shoulder, he ran one hand   
over Kaoru's mouth in an unexpected rough caress.   
  
"Oh!" A little gasp jerked out as she involuntarily turned her head to follow it. Past him,   
she saw Hiko look up at the sound, raise his eyebrows, and then deliberately angle his   
seat on the log away from them. She felt as if she might die from shame, not so much   
from Hiko's brief glimpse, but for simply still wanting Kenshin's touch despite what she'd   
seen of Battousai.   
  
Dark red hair sluiced across her face like torn silk as he tilted his topknot against her,   
teasingly. "Do you want me to do that again?"   
  
The bokken shaking in one hand, she lifted the other to trace the curve of his neck. And   
for a moment, she didn't understand what she was seeing as a black streak followed her   
fingers. When she lifted them away, there was a pattern seared into his skin like a snake's   
scales, left by the silver rings sewn onto her gloves. He had turned to watch her touch   
him, and now he raised his head and smiled at her with cool golden eyes.   
  
---   
  
"See, I told you this was a bad idea," Megumi whispered at Sano. They were halfway up   
a large tree, awkwardly clinging to footholds and peering down at the man leaning   
against the trunk, a black sword in his hand. "At least you listened to me about creeping   
quietly through the underbrush instead of just crashing straight through it like he did, or   
we wouldn't've heard him coming."   
  
"Maybe if we'd crashed straight through it, we'd've been down in the gully before he got   
here," Sano whispered back around the fishbone clenched in his teeth. "Now we can't   
even tell what's going on down there. Why didn't you pick a tree that had enough leaves   
fall out of it already that we could see out?"   
  
"Because that would've been enough leaves fallen out that he could see us? I think he's   
another one of those hellblade guys, and we really don't want to mess with him. How   
long is he going to stay here anyway? And what's he doing here?" She shifted her   
backpack uncomfortably.   
  
"Same thing we were doing-- looking down into the gully. Gah, there's sap all over my   
hands now."   
  
"Sano, will you be quiet before you spit your fishbone onto his head?" Megumi shifted   
one branch over, accidentally knocking a pine cone from it to fall down right beside the   
man. They froze, but he simply muttered something under his breath about squirrels, and   
they relaxed. Sano took the fishbone out of his mouth and started to poke at the bark with   
it out of boredom while Megumi started to fiddle around inside her backpack. After a   
while, she said, "Hey, can you climb a little higher?"   
  
"Branches are looking kind of bendy up there."   
  
"I want them to be bendy. Um, I think you'd really better keep your fishbone out of your   
mouth for this. Can you grab the end of this string and pass it around to me? Careful,   
don't make them clink!"   
  
Sano obediently passed the string so she could tie it around the trunk. It had something   
like puffy white pods tied along it every few inches. "What the heck is this arts and crafts   
project?"   
  
"Hush! And hang onto my backpack straps for a minute so I don't fall, okay?" As silently   
as possible, Megumi clapped her hands twice, barely touching the palms together, and   
bowed her head. "Okay, so when I light this match, I want you to hang onto a branch and   
let it drop you into that nice puffy-looking bush over there."   
  
"What it's actually thin moss over a puffy-looking but very hard rock?"   
  
"Fine! Just tell me which direction you want to jump then so I can follow you!"   
  
"You wanna tell me why I'm jumping?" She lit the match and gave him a hard shove,   
which he barely converted into a distance jump. She landed in the bush next to him, not   
quite on the opposite side of the trunk from the man.   
  
He jerked toward the loud crash they'd made, but then up to look at the yellow glow that   
was running around the pine tree. The ring of flame suddenly began to spit tiny fireballs   
of mochi and scraped pine resin down at him, shooting out of the test tubes' mouths   
through their tissue-paper wrappings. Nonplussed and slightly on fire, he fled.   
  
Megumi clapped twice again and bowed, and the flames winked out as if she'd turned a   
switch. Only a few faint embers lingered in the dead needles around the trunk, flickering   
and dying even as they watched. "Okay, he's gone now. So now what?"   
  
Sano pulled the fishbone back out of his pocket and put it back between his teeth as he   
prepared to resume crawling quietly through the brush. Grinning, he said, "We came this   
way to burn mochi and kick ass, and we're all out of mochi. Let's go." After a moment, he   
added, "My fishbone tastes like pine sap now. This better be worth it."   
  
---   
  
Hiko looked back up at the sudden flurry of motion: Kaoru scrambling upright, silver-   
wrapped bokken raised before her at the slight, red-haired figure in the torn pink shirt,   
and the flash of gold as the latter glanced toward him. In a single motion, Hiko took up   
the black sword and lunged straight forward. The night wind rushed around him, carrying   
with it a small splinter of night itself.   
  
Thrown cleanly from Battousai's hand, Yumi's little black knife went deep into his   
shoulder. It was just as Kenshin had described, as if his heart were being pulled up   
through his throat. He managed to stay upright, though, wrenching the knife out and   
flinging it far aside.   
  
"We'll see who's the stupid pup now. My sword was made for better things than being   
used as a cane. Stop leaning on it, and I'll show you."   
  
"Kenshin, don't!"   
  
With an effort, Hiko stumbled out of reach. "You know who that is, Kaoru. It isn't   
Kenshin."   
  
Eyes as golden as the harvest moon, as the last autumn leaves he might ever see, and that   
small terrible smile. "Does it matter? Kaoru, you know this is the only way I'll ever touch   
you again. If you stay with me, I can teach you things Yumi never knew."   
  
"No thank you." Her voice was miraculously steady, coming nearer. Hiko felt the silver   
gauntlets hanging heavy on his hands, almost as heavy as the sword. When the sword's   
weight suddenly lifted from him, he felt set free to float into the wind.   
  
---   
  
Battousai cocked his head at Kaoru, then took another step toward her. "Don't come any   
closer," she told him, making sure she stayed between him and Hiko. The black sword   
had a strange feel in her hands, a deep electric thrum that grew stronger as Battousai   
approached. She couldn't believe Hiko had just collapsed like that. Was he even   
breathing? "Get back, I said!"   
  
"Give me my sword, Kaoru. It wants to be with me nearly as much as you do." Another   
step.   
  
"Don't make me kill you." The wind suddenly felt colder on her face. She couldn't be   
crying again.   
  
"Oh, I think you have to. It's all part of their plan. First this time, and then three more,   
and finally the one that lasts. Or you can turn your back on them and come with me." He   
was only a few paces away from her now, his fingers skimming his sword's point more   
gently than they had touched her mouth.   
  
Anguished, Kaoru looked toward the shrubs where they'd left Sano and Megumi.   
Battousai languidly turned in that direction as well. "Ah yes. The hot-spurred cockerel   
and the little vixen in his henhouse. It wouldn't do to forget about them, would it?"   
  
That casual dismissal of her friends-- of Kenshin's friends!-- finally broke down her last   
barrier. A half-step back and a lunge forward, and she stabbed him straight through the   
heart. She stood there trembling, the sword's hilt pulsing against her gloves as if with its   
own heartbeat, and Battousai still stood there, smiling.   
  
He leaned forward across the blade, liquid fire trickling from his mouth like blood as he   
whispered. "Little bluebird, I'll tell you a secret, or else you'll just botch this up the next   
three times as well." His eyes were flickering strangely like heat lightning in reverse, the   
golden flame going dark for fractions of a second. "With me, it's not enough to stab me   
with my sword. You have to do something else that would kill me on its own. I'll give   
you one minute, and then you're coming with me."   
  
"I don't need a minute." She drew her bokken from her side with one hand.   
  
He tilted his head at her again, watching her raise the silver-wrapped wood to shoulder   
height. "I suppose it's the best you can manage for now, though I was hoping for   
something more exciting. Ah well. Until next time, then." When she let go of his sword's   
hilt, he simply stood there and blew her a kiss as she whipped the bokken sideways at   
him with the full strength of both arms and broke his neck.   
  
As his body crumpled, she dropped the bokken and grabbed the black hilt again. As she'd   
seen Hiko do, she drove the point into the ground to pin his body flat. The white fire   
swirled up and out of him, even more than had come from Yumi. The blade was glowing   
hot, rising from the golden-yellow of his eyes to an eerie blue-white brighter than the   
moon, and the hilt seemed to hiss and rattle in her gloved hands. Between them, the ruby   
flared laser-bright, its light flooding the gully like a river of blood.   
  
Inside its silver wire, her bokken began to burn.   
  
---   
  
"Kaoru!" Sano called as he scrambled down to join her. "Hey, Kaoru, are you okay? We   
saw all this freaky-ass stuff going on down here with Kenshin--" Megumi slid down   
behind him and whacked him on the head. "I mean Battousai and Yumi, and I thought   
we'd better-- whoa, what the hey?"   
  
Megumi's backpack had spilled open at the bottom, and she had to gather her remaining   
supplies back up into it. Without looking up yet, she said, "I told Sano that Mr. Hiko told   
us to stay there and he was going to be really cheesed off if we didn't, but at least we   
scared off that other guy with a black sword who was lurking around just watching. I   
don't know if you even saw him down here, but he-- oh, gosh." Carefully, she picked her   
way around a few stray body parts to join Kaoru and Sano near the fallen tree.   
  
Kaoru was sitting on the trunk, not looking at the three bodies at her feet, just the black   
sword in her hands. "I didn't know what else to do, so I dragged them over here. It took a   
while, especially Hiko. He's even heavier than he looks. I think he's okay. Or at least he's   
alive. Megumi, could you check on all of them?"   
  
Megumi knelt down with her first-aid kit. When she moved aside Hiko's coat to examine   
Yumi, Sano leaned a little too close and then whipped back, rubbing his head. "Ow!   
What was that for?"   
  
"You're blocking my light," Megumi tersely said. "Here, at least hold the flashlight for   
me, and no moving the spotlight around to whatever you want to look at instead of what I   
need to. Well, she looks fine--"   
  
"I'll say. Ow!"   
  
"--I mean, I don't see any injuries at all, she's just passed out."   
  
"You said there was another guy around but he's gone?" Kaoru's gloves tightened on the   
hilt. "Hope he stays gone. I don't know if I can do this twice in one night. And it's getting   
close to our curfews, too."   
  
Sano surveyed the zombie parts scattered farther down the gully. "Oh well. I don't know   
if I could've handled beef bowl tonight anyway. Jeez, don't tell me you're stripping down   
Hiko?"   
  
"Hand me an ofuda, will you? No, one of the last few test-tubes." Megumi pulled out the   
mochi plug and carefully dripped the sake into the shoulder wound as a disinfectant. The   
pain roused Hiko back into consciousness.   
  
"Kaoru," he rasped, casting about. Megumi tried to hold him still to fix a bandage in   
place. "Did she-- ?"   
  
"Yes," Kaoru said from her perch above him. "He's lying there next to you. I had to break   
his neck. I don't know if Megumi should set it or anything, but I probably bounced it   
around a lot when I was dragging him."   
  
"Ooh." Megumi shuddered. "Well, it feels like his headbone is connected to his neckbone   
just fine. That's a really nasty hole through his chest, though. And he hasn't got a pulse."   
  
"Well, when he does, make sure he bleeds real blood," Hiko said. "In the meantime, we   
must find that knife so we can deal with it later." He pulled his shirt and jacket back over   
his shoulder, fastened them, and braced himself up with his sword. "I'm sorry I wasn't   
able to test your latest improvement, Miss Rosenberg. Perhaps next month. In the   
meantime, may we borrow your flashlight?" He and Sano set off, slowly scanning the   
ground for Yumi's knife.   
  
Megumi sat beside Kaoru. "Hey," she said. "You okay there? Want a little pep talk about   
how virtue is its own reward even if it feels really sucky at the time when you do what's   
right?"   
  
Kaoru's smile was a little torn and dog-eared around the edges. "No, I'll probably get that   
from Hiko in the morning. I think I'd just like to be alone for a bit."   
  
"You sure?"   
  
"Well, okay, maybe not completely alone," Kaoru admitted. "Can you help me drag him   
over into the corner, out of the way? And have you got any of Sano's spare fishbones in   
your bag?"   
  
---   
  
After helping her, Megumi went off to join the others in their search, leaving Kaoru in the   
nook between the fallen tree and the gully wall. She sank to her knees and put the sword   
down as if it might break. She pulled off her gloves and laid them neatly on the hilt.   
Taking hold of the shoulders, she dragged the supine body toward her until its head lay   
sideways in her lap. She untied the dark red hair and combed it smooth with a wooden   
fishbone before retying it. And finally, with Hiko's handkerchief, she wiped his face   
clean of dust and streaked mud. It was calm now, with no hint of scorn or anguish, no   
sign of breath or life. When she touched the char-edged hole in his shirt, her fingers sank   
into the wound she had made. The surface was cool and slightly sticky. It wasn't   
bleeding. He was dead. She had killed him.   
  
Hiko's voice was sounding very stern on the other side of the tree. Evidently Sano and   
Megumi had told him about leaving their post, and were occasionally interrupting him   
with feeble protests. She couldn't understand a word they said.   
  
She reached for the other fishbone Megumi had left with her, one of the metal ones Sano   
had machined from something he'd improvised from one of Hiko's pottery wheels. The   
silver-plating didn't make it any less sharp, and she still pricked her fingers as she pressed   
it to his throat. The glove-burned streak down the side of his neck was still there, but no   
new one appeared where the fish touched him. But then, perhaps it didn't work while he   
was dead.   
  
She curled herself down and laid her face above his, her cheek against his forehead. If she   
moved just a little bit, her lips would touch his eyelids, or the faint trace of his scar.   
Slowly, she covered his face with soft kisses, as closely set as the rings he had sewn on   
her gloves, until she reached his mouth. She pulled back then, not wanting to feel it as   
cool and still against hers, instead of warm and alive. Instead, she traced the parted curve   
of his lips with her fingers. They left a dark smear from one of her fishbone cuts.   
Mechanically, she wiped it away. And then, despite herself, she kissed him as Kenshin   
had told her they never could again, pressing her lips helplessly against his and tasting the   
ghost of green tea mochi and her own blood, washing the last traces of dust away from   
his face with her tears.   
  
A great shuddering gasp shook his body, making her jerk up to look at him. The holes in   
his shirt from her sword showed only smooth skin. The burns on his neck were gone.   
When his eyes flew open, they were blue-violet, and Kenshin's, and alive. Awkwardly, he   
reached up to touch her cheek. "Miss Kaoru. Please don't cry," he whispered. "Not for   
me."   
  
She caught his hand in one of hers to hold it against her heart, feeling his pulse beat   
against hers. With her other hand, she picked up the fishbone again and pricked his wrist.   
He winced, but didn't pull back, and a dark bead of blood welled up from his unburned   
skin. She cast the fishbone aside and bent her head to his wrist to kiss the hurt away.   
  
"Idiot," she said tenderly. "You can't tell me who to cry for." When she leaned down   
again to his mouth, the only reason he pulled his hand free from hers was to reach up   
behind her and untie her ponytail, letting her hair fall down to cover both their faces.   
  
-----   
  
(And so endeth chapter the ninth. Phew. Early reviews that seem to refer to this chapter   
were actually based on a waff-biscuit that now lives at the end of chapter 8. The   
marsupial brain cell is feeling slightly tapped out, so there may be a certain pause before   
the party resumes with chapter 10. We'll see. Reviews might speed things up a bit ^_^ ) 


	10. gather ye rosebuds

This sentence is a self-referential disclaimer that recognizes that Watsuki Nobuhiro holds   
the intellectual property rights to Rurouni Kenshin. This sentence is another self-  
referential disclaimer that does the same for Joss Whedon and Buffy. However, this   
sentence is not a disclaimer at all. And this sentence no verb.  
  
Edodale  
By wombat  
  
Chapter 10  
  
  
"All right, young lady, that's enough. It's nearly bedtime for you, so go home." Sano   
tugged on Kaoru's ponytail, away from Kenshin and toward her bicycle. Reluctantly, she   
broke away from the kiss and waved as she rode away.   
  
Hiko and Megumi had already left to drive the still-unconscious Yumi to the hospital,   
armed with the health-plan card from the wallet in her belt pouch. They hoped Megumi's   
presence would make the circumstances seem less suspicious, as if Hiko were tidying up   
the aftermath of a bad date. Afterward, he would drop off Megumi at her house before   
returning for the boys, who were stuck waiting at the cemetery in the meantime.   
  
Once Kaoru disappeared from sight, Kenshin returned to nearly the same position he'd   
had at sunset, sitting back against the base of the wall with his knees tucked up in front of   
him. But instead of buried down in his arms, this time his head was tipped up at the   
night sky. Despite their both being shadowed from the sodium glare of the streetlights,   
Sano could still make out the bemused smile on Kenshin's face. It pissed him off.   
"What're you smirking at?" he growled down at him.  
  
"It's such a beautiful evening, don't you think?"  
  
Hiko had loaded the two swords and Yumi's knife into the trunk of his car and driven off   
with them, but that still didn't make Sano feel really safe, considering what he'd seen of   
Battousai earlier tonight. Not very casually at all, Sano took out a metal fishbone and   
started to sharpen it on the stone gatepost he was leaning against. "What would you do if   
I put this through your throat?"  
  
"Right now, I would die happy."  
  
Disgusted, Sano hurled the fishbone point-first into the turf. "Absofreakinglutely   
unbelievable. Where do you get off being the chick magnet of the damned, anyway?"  
  
"Oro?"  
  
"You are so lucky I just put my fishbone down." He bent to retrieve it; once he was that   
close to the ground, he decided to just flop down onto the grass himself, leaning back   
against the gatepost with his legs out in front of him. "First Kaoru goes all melty for your   
total wuss-boy mode even though you're shoving her away. Then she sees you get all   
freaky with Yumi at point-blank range, and suddenly that makes Kaoru and you decide to   
glom onto each other like soy on sauce?"  
  
Still in that nerve-wrackingly dreamy tone, Kenshin said, "I couldn't very well drive her   
into Battousai's arms with frustration. In any case, Miss Kaoru was right. I can't tell her   
what to feel. I can't even tell myself. We were both miserable. Now we're not."  
  
Sano said a very bad word, triggering a low, drawn-out "Orooooo." He leaned over and   
stabbed his fishbone into the ground between Kenshin's feet. "Battousai or not, if you   
hurt her, I'm going to kill you as many ways as I can."  
  
"There's only one way that will last, and I'm afraid that's still reserved for her use."   
Kenshin dropped his gaze from the round golden eye of the harvest moon to the   
fishbone's silver sheen. "I hope you'll at least give me credit for making her into   
Battousai's greatest weakness, even to the extent of flirtatiously telling her how to kill   
him. If all goes well, everything will be over by the end of the year. It seems a small   
enough request to let us be happy for those last few months.  
  
"Mr. Harris, we both have the rest of our lives to court Miss Kaoru. But in that, you have   
the advantage of me by a considerable length of time."  
  
---  
  
"I'm telling you, the brat's drained Yumi dry," Jineh snarled. The burns on his arms and   
shoulders had already healed, but moonlight still shot through the holes in his hat,   
streaking his face. "I saw him standing over her body, getting ready to snap up two   
mortals as dessert. He's recovered his powers, but instead of sharing them with us again,   
he's treating us as prey. There's no reason we should wait for him any more. We need to   
hunt him down and take his sword before he can do any more damage. He'll be coming to   
take Tomoe from you next."  
  
The same light made Enishi's hair into a wild pyre of silver flame. The younger man   
shrugged, turquoise sparks glinting behind his little wire glasses. "All the more reason for   
me to stay here with her, mate. Just let him try to take her from me, and I'll have him in   
bits all nicely kabobbed on his own sword. Or if she's even better by then, she can do it   
herself."   
  
Behind him, Tomoe emerged from the crypt into the cemetery glade. She appeared   
steadier than she'd been for a long time, with her hair bound into a tidy doubled loop at   
the back of her neck instead of hanging wild, and the crimson silk of her undersash was   
tucked up into her kimono's overlap instead of trailing away like spilled blood. She   
leaned her head against Enishi's shoulder. "Yumi's gone away," she said.  
  
"Yes, love, Jineh just came to tell us."  
  
"Gone away," she repeated softly. "Pretty Yumi, all purple and green like pansies, that's   
for thoughts. I'd give you some violets, but they withered all when Akira died. Or irises   
with their long leaves, like her naginata. All gone now, blown away like butterflies." She   
shrank away as Jineh cursed her.   
  
Enishi stepped in front of her protectively. "You've no one to blame for it but yourself,   
Jineh. It was you what killed him in the first place. He probably would've never tried to   
drain one of us if you hadn't done him in to start with. Anyway, I don't see how he   
could've dusted her without the sakabatou. All you have to do is go out and fetch her,   
then wait a bit until she feels more chipper. Or even if he has managed it somehow, just   
wait for her to pull herself together and come back to us."  
  
"If she's there, you'd better come with me to bring her back."  
  
"And leave my little dove here all alone? Get off."  
  
Jineh spat. "Bring her with us, then. You say she's getting better, so a little walk will do   
her good."  
  
---  
  
"I don't believe you're letting them do this," Sano groused a few days later. It was after-  
school study hour in the library, and there was no sign of Kenshin there. Instead, Hiko   
was calmly sitting behind his desk as if he owned it, regarding him with one of his   
blankly helpful librarian expressions. "You know. Those two. His room. Crazed weasels.   
Did you even give them the talk that when a demon loves a girl very much, they share a   
special kind of hug, but not until they're married?"  
  
"I rather doubt they would require instructions to indulge in that sort of behavior, even if   
they were doing so. They are collaborating on a history project, similar to the one you are   
not working on."  
  
"C'mon, gimme a break. I bet the research they're doing right now has a lot more to do   
with anatomy than history."  
  
Megumi appeared behind Sano's elbow and smacked it. "You could at least give them a   
little bit of credit here. If Kenshin isn't a responsible adult yet after one hundred fifty   
years, there isn't much hope for the male species, is there?"  
  
"Well said," Hiko murmured, before developing a rather odd expression.  
  
"What?"  
  
"The alternative hadn't previously occurred to me. But I must say that if I were   
condemned to be fifteen for one hundred fifty years, I'd also be desperate to be put out of   
my misery."   
  
The phone rang, interrupting their conversation. While Hiko answered it, Megumi tugged   
Sano into the mini-dojo behind the desk. Tucking loose coppery hair behind one ear, she   
glanced at him sideways. "Can't you leave them alone already? It's none of our business."  
  
"So it's our business when we're deployed as Kaoru's support troops, but not when she's   
fraternizing with the enemy?"  
  
"But Kenshin isn't our enemy. It's Battousai that's the problem."  
  
"Don't even start on the excuses about Battousai. You girls make like Battousai is this   
completely different person who just happens to walk around in his skin, but I don't buy   
it. I think he's just what happens when Kenshin stops being polite and starts being real.   
Okay, real freaky and psycho, but it's probably pent-up frustration from acting so wussy   
the rest of the time."  
  
"Oh, stop it. Just stop. Kaoru can take care of herself. I'm almost more worried about   
Kenshin, considering that she's killed him at least once that we know of, and she has to   
do it again. For all we know, they're just practicing."  
  
"Practicing. Combat. In his room instead of here. Right, and I have a tower in Tokyo I'd   
like to sell you."  
  
"Well," Hiko said, hanging up the phone on his desk and swiveling around, "the hospital   
has called us after all. Not surprisingly, they have no other contact information for Miss   
Komagata."  
  
Megumi shook her head at Sano's initial blank look. "You know. Yumi." She sighed at   
his faintly crazed grin of reminiscence. "Did it take her this long to wake up? I really   
thought she looked okay."  
  
"Electrolyte imbalance and dehydratiion, they said. Apparently she's still somewhat   
disoriented, and they're hoping we know someone who'll be familiar to her. I told them   
we'd bring him right away."  
  
"Hah," Sano said, and raced down the hall ahead of the other two.  
  
---  
  
Even without pressing his ear to the door, he could hear Kaoru's indignant voice. "Hey! I   
told you not to put that there!"  
  
"Isn't that where it belongs?"  
  
"Absolutely not. Now take it out right now!"  
  
Sano grinned vindictively and shouldered the door open, snapping the latch and taking   
Kenshin and Kaoru by surprise. The sleeping bag was rolled up and tucked underneath   
the workbench they were sitting at opposite ends of, fully clothed and poking at their   
history project with duelling colored pens. "Sano, I already gave you the list of   
references," Kaoru sighed, before pointing back at the offending page. "Look, if you put   
that paragraph there, it messes up the entire flow. It has to be at the end to lead into the   
next section, and besides, we need room to fit the whole footnote under there."  
  
Kenshin drooped. "Oro," he reluctantly agreed, before looking back up at Sano himself.   
"Mr. Harris, to what do I owe the pleasure of your buying me a new latch?"  
  
---  
  
Yumi looked pale and tired, but she still blossomed into a smile when Kenshin slipped   
into her room. Hiko had received only the same tense, bewildered flicker of disinterest   
that she gave the ward nurse, but she recognized him. "Bats? I did see you before and I   
wasn't dreaming, was I?"  
  
Deftly, Hiko edged the nurse out into the hallway to discuss Yumi's condition, leaving   
the two alone together. Kenshin sat on the edge of the bed and took her hand, keeping it   
loosely clasped in his after giving it his usual formal kiss. "My name's Kenshin now," he   
said gently. "How are you feeling?"  
  
"Wicked strange. My naginata's gone. I didn't think that could happen, but nothing makes   
sense right now. Feels almost like I'm turning into Tomoe." Her fingers tightened. "I   
didn't dream it, did I? We met up at night and we both changed back for a little while.   
Did it wear off? One last fling that burned us out?"  
  
"I suppose you could view it that way," he said at first. He smoothed a loose strand of   
hair away from her forehead. With her hair down and her face scrubbed clean, she looked   
both younger and more mature somehow, no longer the vicious gamine overdressed to   
kill. "No, I owe you the truth. I meant to do this: destroy your naginata and turn you   
human again, or as near to that as we can still become. Perhaps it's not quite accurate to   
say that I'm sorry, but I apologize for having betrayed your trust."  
  
"Oh." She mulled this over briefly. "Well, I guess that's it then."  
  
"You're not angry with me?"  
  
Her shrug had a hint of the old luscious insouciance. "What good would that do? I said I   
didn't want to live halfway. Okay, this isn't what I had in mind, but at least this way I   
don't have the naginata in my face all the time without being able to use it. And I'll never   
have to go home to those guys again. I always told Jineh the only good thing about his   
stupid hat is it helps hide his face, and Tomoe--" She shivered a bit. "Don't know how   
Enishi could take it. Every few months, she'd start carrying on as if she'd been thrown off   
a cliff, or hit by a train, or weighted down with bricks and drowned. Not so much lately,   
but it still creeped me out."  
  
"I see," Kenshin said. He considered his various suicides over the past few years. Had   
Tomoe been linked to him all this time without his knowing it? Before Battousai changed   
her, she had trained with her mother in the old shrine traditions of channeling kami or   
seeing other times and places. Perhaps she had been thrown into a long trance by the   
shock of using his sword, or being killed by the sakabatou. "I am sorry to hear she hasn't   
been herself. You know I've always been very fond of you both."  
  
"Fond?" she repeated pensively. "I guess so. I'll never forget the times we had together,   
anyway."  
  
"They certainly still haunt me."  
  
"Doesn't sound like you mean that in a good way." Her tone had shifted subtly:   
wistfulness? resentment? "Yeah, we killed a lot of people, but beating yourself up about   
it won't bring them back."  
  
A soft tap heralded Kaoru's arrival. Her cheeks were still flushed from chasing Hiko's car   
on her bicycle, and the ribbon around her ponytail was coming loose. "Um. Hi," she said.   
Fondly, Kenshin thought that the expression on her face was similar to the one Sano had   
worn when breaking down his door, only prettier.   
  
His attention thus distracted, he completely missed Yumi's violet eyes flickering from   
him to Kaoru and back again. For a moment, if either of the others had been looking at   
her instead of each other, they would have seen Yumi look even younger than before, a   
lost child set adrift. But she quickly recovered, because she had to. Now there was   
nothing left for her to cling to except herself.  
  
---  
  
Tomoe sat quietly beneath a tree in the afternoon shade. Inside the crypt, Jineh and Enishi   
were arguing again, though not quite to the extent of open combat. There wasn't much   
point to duelling as matters stood; without their former powers, the only difference   
between their black swords and ordinary weapons was the color of their blades. Still,   
sometimes they fought anyway, giving and taking strange wounds that neither blazed not   
bled, merely gaping open until bound closed to seal back together.  
  
Although she was paying as little attention to their raised voices as possible, her name   
kept coming up in argument. "You're not taking Tomoe from me," Enishi snarled. "With   
your katana all buggered, you can't drain her anyway. Even if you could, you wouldn't   
get near much from her as from me, but you're too much the coward for a fair fight.   
Stabbed Battousai in the back, didn't you?"  
  
"What makes you think I can't do the same to you? And you know that's not what I'm   
after. Tomoe never lets you. With Yumi gone, you should at least share her with me."  
  
"Yumi wouldn't touch you except with the blade of a ten-foot pole. It's not as if I'd been   
banging her either, because that would've left Tomoe alone for you to get at her."  
  
With an effort, she shut out the noise from the outside of her head so she could listen to   
the inside of it. She folded her hands over her sash, and the small hard stone she'd   
concealed in the crimson silk beneath it. That night in the gully, she'd found Yumi's   
emerald easily enough, stumbling as if by accident to pick it up from the mud. Though   
the men never saw it at all, the jewel had shone out to her as if it were a spring leaf with   
the sun full behind it. Even now, to her inner sight, it glowed as brightly as the golden   
flecks that had become star-strewn through her dark eyes that night, which Enishi had   
been still too busy defending her from Jineh to notice yet.  
  
She listened to the emerald now. It echoed with the voice of the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu   
student whom she'd known in Okusufodo. She'd kissed him when she gave him her   
hairpin, before he walked out into the winter snow. His voice had already become harder   
and colder when he returned, eventually fighting her fiance so viciously that Akira had   
died of his wounds after Kenshin fled the village to become Battousai. When she sank   
deeper into the jewel's light, she could see Kenshin's face, and then its focus changed to a   
girl whose eyes were so blue that their color shone through the green veil that suffused   
everything.  
  
---  
  
As Kenshin smiled in welcome at Kaoru, they were both startled by Yumi's sudden   
ripple of laughter behind him. "Oh, that must be your little bluebird. What's her name?"  
  
"Oro?"  
  
Kaoru swatted his topknot as she walked up to shake Yumi's hand. "My name is Kaoru,   
not Oro. Yumi? I thought you were out cold when I was fighting Battousai. How did you   
know about the 'little bluebird' thing?"  
  
Yumi grinned. "You fought Battousai? And won, I guess, or neither of you'd be here   
visiting. But nah, I knew from before that." She poked Kenshin's arm, a sparkle of   
mischief lighting her face. "Maybe you'd better tell Kaoru before I do."  
  
Kenshin's blue-violet eyes were faintly glazed. "I'm afraid I can't quite recall. It must   
have been one of those Battousai moments."  
  
"Now, it's just mean of you to make me tell her. Lean down here and I'll remind you."  
  
Kaoru watched his ears turn pink as Yumi's lips shaped words into one of them. "Oro," he   
said, and sat back. "I'll be certain to tell her later. In the meantime, Mr. Hiko-- the man   
who was with me earlier-- said your health plan will only cover a few more days here. Do   
you need a place to stay? We can find lodgings for you, perhaps a new job if you'd like to   
try something different from what you've been doing."  
  
"Still getting my feet under me right now, but as soon as I know what's what, I'll give you   
guys a call. Probably could use crash space somewhere for a while. I'm guessing it won't   
be with you." While addressing these words to Kenshin, she grinned again at Kaoru, who   
thought that despite Yumi's bravado, the older girl was much more shaken than she   
wanted to admit.  
  
"Very well," Kenshin said, standing up and giving her hand one last squeeze. "The nurse   
has Mr. Hiko's phone number. He can reach us if need be, though he can also be very   
helpful in his own way. I'll come back tomorrow, if you'd like."  
  
"Wicked cool. See ya then."  
  
Out in the hallway, Hiko was still speaking with the nurse. Kaoru was entertained to see   
that he'd casually set a little raku figurine on the reception desk. "I'll wait with you until   
he can drive you back to school," she offered to Kenshin. "After this, I should go home   
anyway. It's my night to cook again." He looked vaguely apprehensive. "No, I am not   
going to bring you leftovers tomorrow," she told him, and he looked even more vaguely   
relieved. She let it slide.  
  
They sat together in the waiting area for a bit. "Well?" Kaoru eventually said. "Aren't   
you going to tell me how she knew I was Battousai's little bluebird?"  
  
Nervously, he stroked the end of her hair ribbon. "This nice deep blue matches your   
eyes," he evaded. "It must have been a good clue."  
  
She narrowed her eyes into nice deep blue daggers of death. "That doesn't explain how   
she knew about it in the first place."  
  
"Oro..."  
  
"I knew you were going to say that."  
  
He gulped. "Apparently during some point in the proceedings that night, Battousai started   
calling her that. Not the part with the knife. After that."  
  
"You mean when...? I mean, during...?" She looked at him trying very hard not to look at   
her. "Are you trying to pull your head inside yourself like a turtle? You're about to say   
'oro' again, aren't you?"  
  
Guiltily, he clamped his mouth shut. It seemed to tremble very slightly from internal   
pressure. Apparently unable to clear the backlog, he sat there wordlessly next to her,   
neither of them saying anything for a few minutes. After a while, she said, "Actually,   
that's rather sweet."  
  
He peeked up at her through the side of his loose bangs, twitching at the added weight of   
another unspoken oro. The hapless charm of Okusufodo men, she thought, and leaned her   
head against his, tipping his face toward hers so he could murmur it against her lips as   
many times as he needed to.  
  
---  
  
Hiko hadn't done much with the old locker rooms in the Kamiya dojo, so it was fairly   
easy to convert them to a small but liveable space that Yumi could sublet from him. In   
exchange, however, he insisted on having a respectable tenant, which boiled down to her   
retiring from the scantily-clad stage to keep his raku gallery open on weekdays. Hiko had   
also provided classic librarian fashion sense to help assemble a much more demure   
wardrobe for Yumi, but Sano developed a sudden obsession with rakuware anyhow,   
rather to Megumi's dismay.  
  
"She's an older woman," Megumi said mournfully over a stack of ofuda. She was sitting   
in the corner of the mini-dojo while Hiko and Kaoru were sparring; on the other side of   
the closed library door, Kenshin was wading through trigonometry at Hiko's desk. Sano   
had disappeared off to the gallery again. "Much, much older. Like old enough to be his   
grandmother's babysitter's playschool teacher."  
  
"Kenshin said-- oof!-- that technically she's only eighteen or so." Kaoru dodged under   
Hiko's bokken. "She just acts older because she had to, after-- ow!-- her family sold her   
off."  
  
"I thought he said she was a samurai's daughter. Though you wouldn't know it from the   
way she acts."  
  
"She was, but-- hey, that's not fair, I'm trying to talk here!"  
  
Hiko looked thoroughly bored as he waited for her to get back up. "Perhaps we ought to   
handicap in the other direction then. Ready?" Above the noise of his bokken thwacking   
against Kaoru's, and occasionally against Kaoru herself, he said, "If I understand   
correctly, the tribute collectors came here when Miss Komagata was your age. Her family   
had only two choices to raise the tribute they needed to pay: they could sell her father's   
swords and armor, which would be a disgrace to any samurai, or they could sell her to a   
brothel. Miss Kamiya-Summers, you really must learn to jump higher. After some years,   
Miss Komagata escaped and returned home. They took her back in, but she could never   
resume her previous status, not only to avoid being found by the brothel's agents, but also   
to avert her personal disgrace from her house."  
  
"That doesn't make sense if they sold her in the first place."  
  
"You almost sound sorry for her now. Hey, that hurt! I bet Kenshin wouldn't thrash me   
around like this."  
  
"Of course not, but Battousai would. For that reason, we cannot allow either of them to   
become familiar with your fighting style. Such as it is." Kaoru growled and made a lunge   
that actually made Hiko step back quickly enough to make his glasses crooked. He   
straightened them, looking pleased. "Excellent. In any case, I doubt very much that Mr.   
Harris' attentions are likely to have much effect on her."  
  
"You think so?" Megumi said hopefully.  
  
"From casual observation, he does not quite seem the sort that would appeal to her. For   
example, she may have been devoted to Battousai, but Kenshin seems to simply bewilder   
her."  
  
Kaoru growled again. "Good," she said, and made another lunge that actually sideswiped   
Hiko's sleeve.  
  
"The Dark Side has made you powerful," Megumi suggested.  
  
"Oh hush, Megumi. Ow!"  
  
---  
  
After showering in the school gym's locker room, Kaoru returned to the library to find   
Hiko gone. "He went to check on the gallery," Megumi said, sitting on the corner of his   
desk. "He promised to swat Sano with a rolled-up newspaper if there was any funny   
business going on that might cause pottery breakage."  
  
Kenshin blinked at the last page of his trig problem set, put his pen down, and gently   
bonked his forehead against it. "Orooo. I have done terrible things in the past, but I never   
compelled anyone to graph complex numbers in a polar coordinate system."  
  
"Don't do that, you'll make your face all inky," Kaoru said, and then leaned closer to his   
notebook in disbelief. "Where did you get ink the color of your old shirt?"  
  
Megumi tugged at the back of Kaoru's collar. "Hey, careful, don't drip your hair onto his   
homework. Kenshin, I keep telling you there are certain disadvantages to using fountain   
pens, mostly the whole water-soluble ink thing. What are you going to do if your   
notebook gets rained on?"   
  
Kenshin shrugged blissfully, closing his eyes and leaning his cheek against the paper as   
Kaoru started to scritch the back of his neck. "Now you're going to have polar   
coordinates on your face," she warned him. His only response was to reach up and pull   
her hand down to be nibbled on, but he quickly stopped when she made a soft hiss of   
pain.  
  
"Oh dear. Blisters again?"  
  
"And he kept thwacking my hand to see if he could make me drop my bokken. How   
many years of this did you put up with? Or is he just giving us the fast-forward version?"  
  
He had sat back up to trace the bruises with his fingertips, though Megumi had leaned   
forward for a quick look and dismissed them as ugly, but not serious. "I can't speak for   
the way he's training you. But as I recall, the treatment he was giving me last month   
would have raised suspicions of favoritism or bribery in the old days. No live steel, no   
rocky streambeds, no ice-water over the head."  
  
Kaoru shivered. "Okay, maybe he really is taking it easy on us. He hasn't given me any   
bloody noses yet, anyway."  
  
"Speaking of nosebleeds," Megumi slyly said, "don't the two of you have to go finish up   
your history project? I'll watch the desk if you want."  
  
"It's a very kind offer, Miss Megumi, but it's not a very interesting desk to watch. Perhaps   
if we gave Mr. Hiko some of those strange executive toys, or perhaps a small fishtank--   
oro!" Kenshin discreetly yelped as Kaoru tugged him out of the chair by his topknot and   
dragged him back to his room.  
  
---  
  
"Mmm. Kaoru, please don't do that."  
  
"What, that?"  
  
He pulled away from her on the workbench, nervously tucking his shirt back in again.   
Frustrated, Kaoru glared at him. Even now, it was the same point of impasse every time.   
"Why won't you let me do anything besides kiss you?" she burst out. "It's not like you   
don't know how. You can't even say you've forgotten after this much time, considering   
Yumi."  
  
"Have you been paying any attention to Mr. Harris?"  
  
"What?" She had no idea what he was getting at. "I know he's been acting weird and   
jealous, even now that he's started to hang around Yumi a lot, but don't tell me you're   
getting jealous of him."  
  
"It's not a matter of jealousy, at least not entirely." Kenshin tucked his legs up onto the   
bench and leaned back against the wall. "He is concerned for your safety. And so am I.   
You have done me the kindness of acting as if Battousai is completely separate from the   
person I am now, and certainly I feel no current affinity for Battousai's actions. But even   
I do not know how separate we truly are."  
  
"You can't think you're going to freak out if I take your shirt off or sit on your lap," she   
muttered resentfully.  
  
"Frankly, I do not know what might happen." His face flushed. "I was raised in a very   
different time, you know. There have been only a few women I've kissed as my own self.   
My mother, of course, and then that last morning I met Tomoe at the shrine. You are the   
third. Anything beyond that is the province of Battousai, and I have no wish to test   
whether it would provide another avenue for him to assert himself."  
  
"You've spent more than a hundred years wandering around post-Battousai and you   
haven't gone on any dates until now?" Kaoru was incredulous. "And Megumi was   
complaining about her social life."  
  
The slight motion of Kenshin's mouth barely qualified as a smile. "I have not been   
terribly eager to press my company upon others. Besides, much of that time was spent   
either in the wild or as a monastery novice, a kitchen servant, or in some other role that   
did not involve many... dates, as you call them."  
  
"Well," she said, lifting her chin, "if Battousai does try anything, I killed him once and I   
can do it again. So please won't you let me-- "  
  
He caught her wrists and held them away from his shirt buttons, gently but firmly. "There   
are other possible complications for you, even without the question of Battousai. If I   
ceded a little ground to you, you would demand more and more, until that risk would   
become inevitable."  
  
"We could stop before then. Couldn't we?" The plaintive desperation of her own voice   
startled her, and when he opened his hands to free hers, she withdrew them instead of   
reaching toward him again.  
  
"Could we?" he echoed. "If I were to meet with your mother, could I tell her that I have   
only honorable intentions in courting you? Miss Kaoru, you are fifteen years old. To   
outward appearances, so am I. We cannot possibly marry as we are now, and it's unlikely   
we will be able to do so in the future."  
  
"I'm not talking about marriage, you know."  
  
"Yes, I know." He picked up her fallen hair scarf and absently wrapped the blue silk   
gauze around his hand. "And that is why I will not let you proceed any further than we   
already have. I apologize if I will not permit myself to endanger your life, your honor, or   
your soul."  
  
"I don't care about any of that," she insisted.  
  
His blue-violet eyes were mournful. "But I do."  
  
-----  
  
(The light at the end of the tunnel may be another oncoming boxcar of angst. Bwahah.  
Since I can't think of much useful stuff to say about this chapter itself, I'm going to get all   
self-indulgent and address some issues no one has asked about. The Edodale Kenshin has   
the darker OVA hair/eyes coloring instead of the more vivid tv palette partially because   
Megumi-as-Willow already has similar hair color to the latter, and also because I have to   
confess that the original OVA is what really hooked me on RK, even after watching the   
tv series up through the end of the Kyoto arc. There's practically no Japanese in the   
dialogue because I don't have any useful knowledge of the language and because imho its   
casual insertion just doesn't fit into the Whedonesque idiom, to whatever extent that I've   
been able to manage that. And I suppose I could've used the history project to explore   
worldbuilding geekery about how Edodale seems to be located in an AU California that   
was initially colonized by the Japanese instead of by the Spanish, so that even after it was   
incorporated into the US, it still retained many place/personal/family names, food   
preferences, and other random things from the first wave of settlers, resulting in a cultural   
mixture somewhat reminiscent of the way Hawaii is now. But I didn't, so there.) 


	11. truth or dare

Edodale  
By wombat  
  
Chapter 11 (which is what I might have to declare if I didn't point out that Rurouni   
Kenshin belongs to Watsuki Nobuhiro and Buffy belongs to Joss Whedon)  
  
  
Yumi looked up cheerfully at Hiko's entrance into the gallery. Her new wardrobe's   
demureness was slightly undercut by the long tendril of hair sliding down from her   
upsweep to caress the side of her neck, but otherwise she appeared perfectly proper as she   
practiced her calligraphy. Its elegant resemblance to Kenshin's handwriting had startled   
Hiko at first, until she'd explained she'd spent a few years teaching it to Battousai   
"because I couldn't stand looking at his typical guy chicken-scratch anymore." After all,   
she had been born a samurai's daughter and been trained with the usual array of   
accomplishments, even if the one she'd used most was her naginata.  
  
She set down her brush and fanned the damp ink with her hand as she waved. "Hey there,   
boss. Someone finally went for that weird speckled vase, the one that looked like a trout   
with rabies. If you're looking for the kid, he's out back in the workshop making   
fishbones." A metallic whine through the walls corroborated Sano's whereabouts.  
  
Hiko pulled up a chair on the other side of the counter. She appeared to have been   
copying out his website's javascript, oddly enough. "As a matter of fact, I need to speak   
with you, in regard to your former colleagues."  
  
"Thought Kenshin would've filled you guys in on all of us by now? Or has he been too   
busy with Kaoru?" Her question sounded lighthearted enough, and Hiko decided to take   
it at face value. According to Kenshin, Yumi had never been one to brood on the past,   
instead throwing herself whole-heartedly into the present. And after all, as Hiko himself   
had already told the girls at school, Yumi simply didn't seem to know what to make of   
her adored Battousai's mastery submerging into Kenshin's polite deference.  
  
"He has been very informative about your group's activities in the past, but more recent   
news would be terribly helpful to us. We've investigated the crypt which you indicated,   
but while there are signs of past occupation, it appears to have been abandoned. The only   
trace left of them was this." He withdrew a handkerchief from his pocket and unfolded it,   
tumbling her emerald onto the glass pane between them.  
  
"Coolness!" She picked it up and rolled it around her palm. "Never thought I'd see that   
again. Is it still good for anything, or should I cash it in? Bet I could fill up my closet with   
a whole dairy herd on this."  
  
"Leather clothing appears highly unprofessional, except for shoes and handbags," Hiko   
reminded her. "Miss Rosenberg has been unable to detect anything unusual about the   
gem now, although it does appear to be highly valuable. Evidently, after Jineh-- at least,   
we presume it was he-- retreated from her position that night, he and the others must have   
returned to seek you out. However, we don't know what they concluded from your   
disappearance, where they've gone, or what they intend to do next. Are there any insights   
you might offer?"  
  
"Did you check the rat-maze of tunnels Jineh dug out? I think he tapped into the storm   
drains at some point. Or they could've just hopped over the walls and moved out. Now,   
where would they go...? We ran pretty far when those guys from Okusofodo came after   
us with the silver sakabatou. Ended up in a rough part of town that wasn't much better by   
the time we came back to life there, but our home base used to be where that cemetery is   
now. That's why we went there-- figured if that was where Battousai died, that's where he   
should come back. Next best place is probably where that old tavern used to be. Used to   
be a great place to hang around and pick off people when they crawled out after too much   
sake. Wonder if it's still there, just off the main road behind the silk-merchants' district.   
Can't remember what it was called, though. The Golden Calf? The Abacus?"  
  
Hiko stood up halfway into battle stance, attracting a sudden flare of interest from Yumi.   
"The Akabeko," he said.  
  
---  
  
"Oh, hello there, Rupert." Behind the Akabeko's sushi bar, Joyce Summers smiled at him   
over the rice she was seasoning. She added one last shake of vinegar. "There isn't a   
problem with Kaoru, is there?"  
  
"Heavens, no," he reassured her, taking a quick look around. No one conspicuously   
dangerous appeared to be on the premises, and he hadn't seen anyone of the sort outside,   
either. "Er. It's just occurred to me that my first month's rent is due, as well as your   
percentage of my profits. I thought that perhaps we could mark the occasion by my taking   
you and your family to dinner."  
  
She seemed nearly as surprised by this makeshift excuse as he was by coming up with it   
in the first place. "Why, that would be very sweet of you. I hear you've taken one of   
Kenshin's former classmates under your wing, as the tenant for the locker-room   
remodelling you asked me about. Would you like to bring either of them, or both, as   
company for Kaoru and Yahiko?"  
  
Oh dear. "I'll invite them if you like. May I ask how you heard?"  
  
After dipping her hands into salt water, she started to shape rice balls. "Megumi and   
Sanosuke-- Kaoru's friends; you know them too?-- keep her and Yahiko company at our   
house in the afternoons, two or three days every week. They're usually still there when I   
get home. Sanosuke's always eager to see whether I've brought any leftovers from work; I   
suppose it's a good preview for me to see how huge Yahiko's appetite is going to be when   
he's that age.   
  
"They talk about Kenshin a great deal, usually when they think I can't hear them. It   
sounds like Kaoru has a crush on him, but he must be too shy to come ask her out for a   
date. And Megumi seems to be slightly jealous of Sanosuke's interest in this Yumi girl?   
I'd forgotten how high-school romance could be so melodramatic and tentative at the   
same time.  
  
"But Kenshin seemed to be a very nice boy when I saw him in your workshop-- I hope   
his home life has gotten a bit better?-- and maybe this will break the ice for them so they   
can spend a little more time together. And as Yumi's indirect landlady, I'd like to meet   
her too eventually, though it doesn't have to be now."  
  
"I'll invite them," he said again, hoping they'd refuse. Life was already complicated   
enough. "Is there anywhere in particular you'd like to go? I assume that you spend   
enough time here already."  
  
"Actually, it would be nice to spend some time here as a customer again, making my co-  
workers wait on me." She had a very mischievous smile. "Though I hope you're a good   
tipper, or I'll have to deal with the consequences later. How about next Friday?"  
  
---  
  
Enishi leaned from the steering wheel toward the back of the car, where Tomoe sat   
quietly in her seatbelt. "Might be here for a bit," he said. "Likely to be a rough crowd, so   
I'd rather you stayed in here to wait for me, love."  
  
As her kimono might have been too conspicuous in the outside world, he'd dressed her in   
some of the clothing Yumi had left behind. The two women were the same height, but   
Tomoe was more slender, leaving more room for modesty in the long dress that had   
outlined all of Yumi's curves. She looked out at the building before them. "Yoshiwara,"   
she read the sign, then tilted her head back against the seat again. "This is where Yumi   
went, but she's not here. Gone away from us, she has. All closed up in clay where the   
fishes swim around, shining like the bones of the moon."  
  
"Well, the chaps here might know what's become of her. Can't hurt to ask, and besides,   
I've something of a business proposition for them. You sit tight now and I'll be back in a   
tick, all right, sweetheart?"  
  
She didn't respond, but at least she seemed to be calm. He'd trimmed her nails short just   
this morning and he didn't think there was anything else in the car she could hurt herself   
with. However, the car did have tinted glass so no one could see in, as well as automated   
locks so she couldn't get out. So she was all set for now.   
  
After blowing her a kiss, he got out, activated the locks, and went back to the trunk to   
gear up: long black coat, long black shape across his back with a waist strap to keep it   
still when he walked, and a small, heavy bag that clinked in his hand when he took it   
from the large duffle's side pocket. Thus equipped, he strode into the Yoshiwara.  
  
When he glanced down in the dim light inside, his waist strap blended in perfectly with   
his coat, just as he'd expected, so the rest of the package was camouflaged too, except in   
profiled silhouette. The man at the door held out a hand for the cover charge, but Enishi   
shook his head. "Not here for the show, mate. I'd like to talk to the management about a   
friend of mine what used to work here.. Komagata Yumi was the name."  
  
With a growl of assent, the man led him toward the back, behind the surprisingly large   
afternoon audience for the assorted undulations on stage. "She was one of our best house   
dancers. A lot of our customers were disappointed when she quit-- said if they'd known   
ahead of time, they would've had a goodbye party for her, with all the bills her garters   
could hold. Boss was upset she didn't give advance notice, or he'd've had her work the   
champagne room more. But last we heard, she cashed in most of her health benefits at the   
hospital, and then she just quit. Didn't even come back in; some redhead came in to pick   
up her last paycheck."  
  
"A redhead, hey?"  
  
"Yeah, some little thing that wasn't even old enough to come in. Had to wait outside at   
the door. So what happened to Yumi? Did she overdose on something?"  
  
"I was hoping you blokes could tell me." They'd reached the end of the hallway, but   
Enishi only stepped forward far enough to pass the office door's threshold, leaving his   
back in shadow as he politely refused the offered chair. "Won't be taking up too much of   
your time here. So what's this about a redhead?"  
  
"This guy's a friend of Yumi's," the doorman explained from behind him to the man   
sitting at the desk, then continued to Enishi, "We figured it might be her little sister.   
Didn't give a name, but she said she had to get back to the shrine before the evening   
dance started. Must run in the family."  
  
"Fancy that. Sure it was a girl, and not just a weedy boy with long hair?"  
  
"Who knows? In this business, we don't bother looking at bosoms under a certain size.   
That all you wanted to know?"  
  
"Actually, there was one other thing or two. Spoke to some lads at the pawn shop down   
the street. They said you could help me shift some of this stuff." He tossed the little bag   
onto the desk, then leaned against the doorway with his arms folded as the man emptied it   
out. Enishi had salvaged a fair bit of jewelry from the cemetery in the course of making   
flesh-puppets, and this sample included three gold bracelets, a few mismatched earrings,   
a handful of jeweled rings, and an antique necklace dripping with gems. In response to   
the raised eyebrow, he smiled disarmingly. "Got a lot more where that came from."  
  
"Nice necklace. Those real?"  
  
"Pawn shop's appraisal's at the bottom of the bag. Said they didn't have the kind of money   
to give me for it, though. That's why they sent me here."  
  
The man unfolded the appraisal, read it carefully, and smoothed it out on his desk. "That's   
quite a tidy sum."  
  
"It is, isn't it? I figure if I trade you the rest of my stash in dribs and drabs, I can live quite   
comfortably with my sweetheart. Or we can make a deal for it all at once. Of course, to   
have this kind of lolly, you must have your hands in all kinds of pies. Not just the skin   
trade, but all kinds of good stuff: drugs, weapons, bootleg anime...." Enishi's grin merely   
intensified as a cool metal edge slipped against his throat from behind. The man behind   
the desk stood up.  
  
"Why don't you just leave this here with us and take us to the rest of your stash, as you   
call it, and forget about everything else. Then we'll let you and your sweetheart live,   
period. Now turn around and walk slowly. Don't do anything to alarm my friend there.   
He's got a knife."  
  
Folded out of sight behind his elbow, Enishi's hand released the strap at his waist. He   
reached up and slightly behind him, heedless of his throat already being cut, and gave a   
firm tug to the hilt of the sword strapped to his back. Its sheath pivoted up from its   
remaining anchor point at his shoulder, creating an audible sound of impact from his   
assailant's crotch. The man behind him collapsed to the floor, retching violently. Enishi   
pulled the blade out of his neck and tossed it onto the desk, coughing a bit as he held the   
wound's edges to seal back together. "Scuse me. Had something in my throat. But that   
little thing's not a proper knife." He finished drawing all five feet of his watou's blade to   
point directly between two horrified eyes. "Now, that's a knife. Begging your pardon, but   
what were you saying?"  
  
---  
  
"Mmm. Oh, don't do that, it tickles."  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"Yes. Or wait, no. Or... oh!"  
  
"Told you. Do that thing with your hair again?"  
  
"Wait your turn, you. Oh, that's nice."  
  
"Oro?"  
  
"Oro. Don't stop now."  
  
"I see Mr. Harris has not repaired your latch yet."   
  
Though they'd ignored the knock at his door, neither Kenshin nor Kaoru could help   
noticing when Hiko walked in. After the initial freeze-frame, Hiko stepped forward and   
encouraged Kenshin to get up from the workbench by applying a firm grip at the back of   
his collar. "Miss Kamiya-Summers, perhaps you ought to go sit at my library desk with   
Miss Rosenberg while I have a discussion with your suitor here."   
  
"But Mr. Hiko, he wasn't--" Kaoru shook enough of her hair back out of her face to get a   
good look at his expression. Hastily tying her ponytail back up, she scurried off.  
  
Hiko dropped Kenshin back onto the bench and leaned back against the door with his   
arms folded. "What was that?"  
  
Kenshin's breathing was still somewhat unsteady. "I made her agree that neither of us   
would attempt to unfasten or remove any clothing. By the time I was aware of some of   
her... technical circumventions, she said it was too late to renegotiate the terms."  
  
"I see. Of course, you were heartbroken by this."  
  
Evidently the color of distilled misery was dark blue-violet. "I love her more than my   
own life."  
  
"However, you don't value your own life very highly. Perhaps you only love her because   
she'll rid you of it." Ignoring Kenshin's shock, Hiko continued, "As one of them might   
say, this truly elevates pupness to new heights of stupidity. Or do you intend to   
deliberately ruin her as a form of posthumous revenge?"  
  
"I told you, we--"  
  
"This has nothing to do with her reputation, though if I could walk in on you, anyone   
could have. I am speaking about her very self. The more you encourage her, the more   
she'll love you in return, and yet she's still willing to kill Battousai to bring you back to   
her as Kenshin. But perhaps she hasn't fully grasped that in the end, she'll be killing both   
of them together. Once that happens, it could destroy her completely. Don't you think   
she's already suffered enough from her father's death?"  
  
"I thought..." Still loose as well, his dark red hair covered his face as well as his hands. "I   
thought I could comfort her, if only for a little while. I know it can't be more than a few   
months, until we can track down the others and retrieve the sakabatou, but--"  
  
"It may take longer than that. The rest of your former friends seem to have vanished, and   
the sakabatou with them. If this remains the case, what do you intend to do?"  
  
Hope flared up and died. "I can't stay here more than a few years, or people will notice   
that I don't change. Or has Miss Megumi had any further insights into my sword?"  
  
"Not that I've heard. She took Miss Komagata's knife to her shrine and told the chief   
priestess, truthfully enough, that she'd found it in the cemetery. I don't know what they've   
made of it yet, however."  
  
"I see." Slowly, Kenshin groped for the string to tie his hair back again.  
  
"Meanwhile, ironically enough, I came to speak to you in the capacity of an unofficial   
go-between. Miss Kamiya-Summers' mother has asked whether you would like to join us   
for dinner at the Akabeko next weekend. Apparently she thinks Kaoru would like to   
spend more time with you, which may be true enough. You would not be required to   
wear a dinner jacket or a five-crest kimono, merely something clean and decent. What do   
you wish me to tell her?"  
  
"Do you think it would be prudent?"  
  
Hiko shrugged. "In what regard? Perhaps we ought to lure your former associates from   
hiding by letting you back out of the ofuda boundary. As for the courtship issue, I leave   
that up to your conscience. She asked me to invite Miss Komagata as well, but I believe   
she already has other plans. As does Mr. Harris, though I suspect their plans may not   
correspond exactly.  
  
"But at the very least, I had thought you were more sensible than to muddle Miss   
Kamiya-Summers' distinction between love and lust. If necessary, I will ask Mr. Harris to   
replace your latch with a solid lock, and keep the keys myself."  
  
---  
  
"Now, this is more the thing." Enishi leaned back, admiring the morning light from the   
window of their new flat. "We'll only be here until I've made a proper home for us, but   
it's not a bad place in its own right. Come and have a look-- the river's all spangled with   
gold, like my own little dove's lovely eyes. Maybe now I'll have a chance to bring   
someone to test your tanto on, if you like."  
  
Tomoe drifted across the room to join him. Today she had put on another of the modern   
outfits he'd bought her, a long narrow frock of pale linen with a wide blue-violet sash that   
matched her shoes. Affectionately, he straightened her stocking seam as she sat on the   
arm of his chair. "This is our new home, then?" she asked him. "Up in the air and not   
with the scampery beetles any more? They stayed crunchy in milk."  
  
"No more beetles, but all the cream in your saucer you might like. And no more Jineh to   
pester you here. Won't you give me a good-morning kiss, love?"  
  
"No." She ducked her face down, deflecting his lips away from hers and onto her cheek,   
as usual.  
  
"Ah well, we've all the time in the world for that." He stretched and stood up, nudging her   
into the seat on his way to the kitchen. "Sit tight and I'll fetch you some breakfast. The   
miso soup's steaming up all nice and hot, just the way you like it. Want an egg stirred into   
your rice?"  
  
She kicked off her shoes and curled up, resting her head at the edge of the chair so her   
hair trailed down to the floor. "Eggs hatch out birds and snakes and lizards, but not at the   
same time," she said. "And dragons lay eggs too. He pulled off the falcon's wings, you   
know."  
  
Enishi returned, balancing the tray of their breakfasts while he hooked over a small table   
with his foot. After setting the tray down, he dragged over another chair for himself and   
propped Tomoe back up. Quietly sipping his tea, he waited for her to finish her soup   
before he said anything else. "You talking about Battousai again, love?"  
  
She nodded, tidily scooping rice into her mouth with her chopsticks.  
  
"Think Jineh was right about what he did to Yumi, then? Drained her with his sword?"  
  
"No no. Pierced her breast with her own beak, and she burned away into blood. Like a   
cross between a phoenix and a pelican. Would that be a pelinix or a phoelican? Or maybe   
a phelicanix?"  
  
"So you think she's dead."  
  
"Silly," she said, swaying slightly as she set down her empty rice bowl. Her chopsticks   
rolled off it onto the floor. "She's more alive than we are. Alive as the pretty little   
bluebird pecking at the inside of his heart, trying to hatch her way out." She leaned back   
again into the chair, looking at him with a puzzled expression. "Sleepy again."  
  
He stroked her hair. "I know, sweet. I'm sorry, but I have to keep you safe while I'm busy.   
You didn't like being shut up in the car or locked in the Yoshiwara's back room, so I   
thought this would be better for us. It'll wear off by the time I get back tonight, I promise.   
Are you comfy there, or should I carry you back to bed?"  
  
---  
  
"I really think you should go," Megumi said. She and Kenshin were at the library desk   
while Hiko and Kaoru put in another afternoon of training in the mini-dojo. Kaoru's   
attack yells were sounding especially fierce today, even through the soundproofing they'd   
installed to avoid completely wrecking study hall.   
  
"Come on," she encouraged, "it'll give you a chance to act like happy Pooh-Bear Kenshin   
again instead of gloomy-cloud Eeyore Kenshin. Kaoru thinks you've gone back to   
avoiding her ever since Hiko caught you two in your room last week, and she misses   
spending time with you, you know."  
  
"I do spend time with her." He was bent over another trig problem set, drawing polar   
coordinates with nearly enough pressure to cut concentric furrows through the paper.   
"Not as much since we finished our history project and turned it in, but we still have   
classes together "  
  
"You know that's not what I mean. Whenever you look at her now, it's almost like you're   
afraid of her. Hiko must've really gone off on you, though it didn't look like he beat you   
up or anything. Or don't you really want to be around her anymore?"  
  
A bright pink inkblot shot across the problem set from Kenshin's fountain pen. By now,   
he had used more of the same mysterious substance to dye some of Sano's old shirts,   
including the one he was wearing now, so he simply soaked up the ink with his sleeve. "I   
miss her too," he said quietly. "But I'm not so much afraid of her as for her."  
  
"She said you didn't show any signs of going Battousai on her."  
  
"Oro?" He glanced up at her from the edge of a blush. "I believe Yumi and Tomoe   
discussed me with one another in the past, but surely--"  
  
"Oh, don't worry, she didn't give me any of the really squishy details, just that she finally   
convinced you to do some cuddling."  
  
"Doesn't 'convinced' imply that there was a rational debate, instead of--?"  
  
"You don't have to give me the details either. Really. Just go out on a real date with her   
for once. You'll be chaperoned by her mom and her brother and Hiko too, so you don't   
have to worry about her ripping off your pants in the alley-- oh, don't look at me like   
that."  
  
"Oroooo."   
  
Megumi wasn't sure whether he sounded apprehensive or transported at the thought. He   
certainly seemed off-balance in some direction, though, so she pressed the advantage.   
"You'll get to eat something besides cafeteria food and instant ramen for once. Sano   
swears by the Akabeko's beef bowls, and their kitsune-zushi is really tasty too. And you   
might get to see Kaoru dressed up all pretty, and you'll meet her whole family."  
  
His faint spark of enthusiasm flickered out. "I'm sorry, Miss Megumi, but that last   
statement is incorrect. Miss Kaoru's father is dead because of me, and by going outside   
the school, I might put the rest of her family in danger as well."  
  
She borrowed one of Sano's bad words, shocking Kenshin beyond the capacity of even a   
little tiny oro. "Yumi said none of them had any idea where you were. I don't know why   
Mr. Hiko keeps thinking they all have Kenshin-radar or something like that. I bet the only   
reason Enishi's flesh-puppets were able to find you in the first place was because you   
were asleep in their cemetery."  
  
"When I returned a month later, they came straight to me."  
  
"Because you were in the exact same place you were last time. The leftover guys from   
before kept going in that direction all that month."  
  
"Even though we destroyed all the individuals we saw? There must have been some form   
of distant communication among the flesh-puppets."  
  
"Well, they weren't telling anything to Enishi or the rest of them, and they've all   
disappeared now anyway. So why won't you go out with Kaoru?" Megumi demanded.  
  
Kenshin blotted up another rogue patch of ink, rolled up his sleeve a little further to avoid   
staining the paper when he put his arm back down, and carefully capped his pen before   
tapping it on the desk. "Miss Megumi, I appreciate your efforts, but I must regard your   
motives as not only suspect, but misguided. I do not think Miss Kaoru was ever fully   
aware of Mr. Harris' romantic intentions toward her, which in any case now seem to have   
been rechanneled toward Yumi. So pushing me into Miss Kaoru's arms will not   
necessarily help you win his affections."  
  
"I don't believe you just said that," she denied, her face hot. "I'm Kaoru's friend, and your   
friend too, and the two of you are just wallowing in misery again when you'd obviously   
rather be together. For the love of Inari, make yourselves happy for once, why can't you?   
You're not making it any easier for me to help you, you know."  
  
He put his pen down and looked at her directly. "Miss Megumi, are you referring to the   
immediate capacity of matchmaking, or is this a form of indirect blackmail regarding   
your work with my sword?"  
  
"Ooh," she fumed. "Just go to the Akabeko with them already, will you?"  
  
"Very well." Kenshin folded the problem set back into his notebook and took out a fresh   
sheet of paper. After a minute or two of writing, he shook the ink dry, folded the sheet in   
half, and handed it to Megumi. "Please give my acceptance note to Miss Kaoru and Mr.   
Hiko when they've finished their session."   
  
"You can't give it to them yourself?"  
  
He stood up, tucking his notebook under his arm. "I beg your pardon, but I am returning   
to my room. Please tell Miss Kaoru that I do not wish to be disturbed."   
  
---  
  
The Akabeko was far different now than the way Kenshin remembered it, but then the old   
building must have been destroyed sometime during the past century. Nervously, he   
tugged at one shirt sleeve, trying to make it match up with the length of the cuff showing   
from the other arm of the sweater. He'd already cut off and hemmed up the extra length   
from all of Sano's discarded jeans, but sleeves were trickier. He could sew buttonholes   
perfectly well, but that didn't mean he liked it, and he suspected the sweater of trying to   
unravel.  
  
Sitting across the table, Hiko calmly kicked him. In response to a wounded oro, he said,   
"Stop fussing. Ms. Summers and her children will be here soon, and then you'll be at   
liberty to play the role of a typical stupid pup of your apparent age. You needn't rehearse   
it in front of me, however."  
  
"I see. And meanwhile, you'll be acting out the role of meek librarian?"  
  
Hiko raised an eyebrow. "I am, in fact, a librarian. Librarians are usually required to be   
quiet and helpful by the nature of their occupation. Anyone who chooses to   
interpret this as meekness is free to do so."  
  
Kenshin nibbled on a mochi ball. "And yet you take on completely different   
characteristics when you're holding your sword. Not unlike me, in a way. But which one   
of them is your true nature, the swordsman or the librarian?"  
  
"Which is the true nature of mochi, water or rice flour? Powdery surface or sticky center?   
Why not both together, each in its proper place?" Hiko shrugged. "Believe me, I've heard   
the endlessly tedious arguments between Mr. Harris and Miss Rosenberg about whether   
Battousai is an intrinsic part of your nature or externally imposed upon you. Frankly, I do   
not care, as long as the hellblades are destroyed so they'll never devour souls again. Once   
that's accomplished, then you may act as meek or violent as you like as far as I'm   
concerned."  
  
"But not as far as Miss Kaoru is concerned, I gather."  
  
That provoked a narrowed glance. "Miss Kamiya-Summers deserves a certain amount of   
respect as the heir to the Kamiya Kasshin Ryuu school. And as you have been at pains to   
point out several times, you owe her an indirect blood-debt. You are certainly in a poor   
ethical position to offer her further injury of any sort. At least you've taken my advice   
about pursuing covert courtship, unless the two of you have simply become even more   
stealthy."  
  
The mochi ball flattened out between Kenshin's fingers. "I assure you that I care as much   
for her well-being as you do," he said evenly, just before his topknot was tugged from   
behind.  
  
"Jeez, the two of you look serious," Kaoru laughed. "What are you talking about,   
anyway?"  
  
Kenshin instantly resolved to apologize to Megumi as soon as possible. She'd been right,   
Kaoru was dressed up pretty. The scarf tying back her hair was an indeterminate   
coral/salmon pink that matched the cherry-blossom pattern on her dress, which was   
otherwise a soft violet-blue that made her eyes glow like star sapphires. It was long and   
flowing, with a wide, slightly darker sash that made the outfit vaguely resemble a   
kimono, but was probably much easier to put on. Or take off. He did not just think that,   
he told himself. When he opened his mouth to greet her, only the inevitable "oro"   
emerged.   
  
Hiko kicked him again, just before standing up to greet Joyce and Yahiko. Belatedly,   
Kenshin got up too, dropping the squished mochi ball onto his plate and hoping his   
fingers hadn't gotten too sticky. Instead of extending her hand to be shaken or kissed,   
however, Joyce simply hugged him for a moment and drew back. His astonishment must   
have been obvious, because a look of sympathy came over her. "Poor thing," she   
murmured. "You must not get hugged very often. How are things at home? Are your   
parents treating you any better?"  
  
"I'm sorry to say my parents have been dead for some time. I have a foster family now. If   
memory serves, I was still having some trouble fitting in with them when we last met,"   
Kenshin said, with perfect honesty. "But everything is fine now, though; thank you very   
much."  
  
"Are you sure? You're welcome to visit our house after school with Sano and Megumi if   
you like, or would your work as Mr. Hiko's library aide keep you too busy for that?"  
  
"I imagine we can discuss the matter later," Hiko said. "It's very good to see you again,   
Joyce, and of course Kaoru and Yahiko as well. Why don't we sit down and decide what   
I'll be treating you to for dinner?"  
  
"Wonderful idea. Kaoru, why don't you sit over there next to Kenshin?"  
  
"Okay, Mom," Kaoru said with a wonderful note of hassled reluctance, and slipped a   
silk-stockinged toe out of her shoe and up Kenshin's ankle. This was going to be an   
extremely stressful evening, Kenshin thought, as Yahiko sat down on his other side and   
began to tell him more about Dragonball than he could have ever possibly wanted to   
know. "Oro" did not even begin to cover the situation. Perhaps Megumi would not be   
receiving that apology after all.  
  
-----  
  
(Sorry about the delay between chapters 10 and 11-- had to burp a tangential smut biscuit   
out of my system. If it ends up actually linked into the main plot, I'll try to make it an   
optional chapter with a little note saying something like "If you really want to know what   
happened offstage, you can peek behind the curtain at this other story over here, but you  
should also be able to skip it and still have everything else make sense.") 


	12. bad to the bone

Neither Rurouni Kenshin nor Buffy belongs to me, although random assorted ickiness is   
probably my fault instead of Watsuki Nobuhiro's or Joss Whedon's.  
  
Edodale  
By wombat  
  
Chapter 12  
  
  
Sano moved the little table to the center of the mini-dojo, on top of a tatami mat Megumi   
had laid out after preparing the floor beneath it. She was washing her hands and face at   
the sink in the corner. "You sure this isn't going to hurt anything? That fish burn on   
Kenshin's arm was pretty heinous."  
  
"Well, at least we finally got him out of the school so we could try this again," she said   
between splashes. "Maybe it won't be as dangerous if he's outside the ofuda ring. Not to   
mention actually planning this out instead of you just deciding to pop a silver fishbone   
down onto his sword's blade. Shouldn't Yumi be here with it by now, anyway? Don't tell   
me she's walking all the way here from Hiko's raku gallery."  
  
"Nah, she bought this cool little moped that can zip through traffic. She still won't let me   
try it, though." Yumi's little black knife was sitting on the mat beside him. He flicked the   
hilt to make it spin around. "Funny how she doesn't seem to've changed nearly as much   
as Kenshin. I mean, she can't've been like this before she got demonized, but it looks like   
she's staying this way. Not that I'm complaining," he grinned.  
  
Megumi snorted damply as she returned with a pitcher of water. "She was probably   
mostly changed by staying in the brothel a few years before that. It doesn't sound like any   
of the others had a huge personality leap like Kenshin's Battousai thing, even if they did   
get a little weird. The whole soul-drinking thing must give them a major head rush. But   
they all changed in the first place because of Battousai, and Kenshin got changed into   
Battousai by the sword, so there has to be something we can do to the sword to change all   
of them back. We know it really doesn't like silver or ofuda, but maybe we can find   
something else that will counteract it without setting anything on fire."  
  
"Fire bad," Sano agreed. He was gaping at Yumi, who had just entered from the hallway.   
Her hair had been further disarranged by the helmet tucked under her arm, and she was   
wearing enough leather to launch several PETA protests.  
  
"Hey there," she said, giving Sano a funny look. "Oh, the dead cow? Hiko can say all he   
wants about looking professional, but if I hit the road without protective gear, I'll look   
like professional roadkill." She unstrapped the black katana from her back and handed it   
to Megumi, who waved a hand in front of Sano's face.  
  
"You can tack up that last section of shimenawa now. Come on, you're the only one of us   
tall enough to reach that high, so get on up, drool-boy." Reluctantly, Sano went over to   
the length of rope beside the doorway, strung with folded paper strips between straw   
tassels. He'd already hung the rest of it around the room, just below the ceiling, and he   
tacked up the loose end now to complete the loop.   
  
Yumi spread out a white cloth on the table, checking a compass to make sure the corners   
were pointing in the right directions. After putting the sword on the cloth, Megumi   
surrounded it with various items she'd already prepared and set by the wall: a large empty   
bowl, a much smaller bowl of dry rice, a plate of salt, and two tiny lidded jars of sake.   
Before Sano could sit back down next to Yumi, Megumi passed him a little stone lantern   
and a vase with a fir twig. "Put those down on the corners," she said, and decorated the   
corners that were closer to her in the same way.  
  
"Shouldn't you be decked out in the latest mikowear?" Sano asked.  
  
Megumi twisted her hands together. "I thought about it, but if something goes wrong   
again, it's awfully flammable. You know, long flappy sleeves, yards and yards of   
hakama. I don't think it should make a lot of difference, or at least I hope not. I mean, if   
we have to, we can try sneaking into the shrine in the middle of the night, but it was hard   
enough explaining Yumi's knife to the chief priestess. I don't think she even took me   
seriously anyway, but at least that made it easier to get it back. I'm wearing red and   
white, anyway, so I hope that's good enough." She tilted her head at the other two, Yumi   
in sleek black leather and Sano in blue denim.   
  
"Okay," she finally said, "after I go all the way around, Yumi should be at the north   
corner, and Sano should be at the east, and I'm going to be kind of halfway across from   
both of you at the middle of the southwest side. So we might as well get started."  
  
---  
  
"Did you put on too much wasabi?" Joyce asked sympathetically. "That was quite a jump   
there."  
  
Kenshin attempted a reassuring smile, leaning forward and squirming slightly to keep   
Kaoru from slipping her hand any further into his right front pocket. "Terribly careless of   
me," he said, gulping water. Yahiko was too busy shovelling beef-bowl into his mouth to   
notice anything, but Hiko had that glint in his eye that made Kenshin think another kick   
might be coming under the table. It would probably hit Kaoru's foot instead of his. This   
was not a comfort.  
  
When he turned toward her, she was demurely holding tempura with her chopsticks, in a   
clear demonstration of her right hand claiming culpable deniability for whatever her left   
hand was up to. He knew perfectly well what her left hand was up to, which was about   
halfway between the second and third knuckles of her fingers. He had a terrible feeling   
that despite the excellence of the Akabeko's kitsune-zushi-- why did Megumi have to   
keep being right?-- he was going to associate it henceforth with the torments of hell.  
  
Kaoru glanced at him sideways, letting her tongue linger on the piece of carrot she was   
nibbling on, and followed that with the most innocent smile imaginable. He would have   
preferred her to be sticking knives into him until he looked like a clockwork hedgehog,   
but no, she had to be doing this while they sat across from her mother! And Hiko! And--  
  
Oh no, she'd successfully distracted him from blocking her. By rights, his entire blood   
supply should have been splattering out arterial gouts through his nose, and its only   
reason not to was that it had better things to do right now. Momentarily channelling Sano,   
he muttered under his breath, "Oh, sweet freaking oro." He was going to survive this   
dinner somehow, even if it killed him. Either that, or he was going to throw Kaoru onto   
the table and do unspeakable things to her.  
  
No, that was a very bad idea. He heard a muffled snap and opened his eyes again to see   
his hand bleeding around his broken chopsticks. Yahiko looked even more impressed   
than the combined quantity of Joyce's concern or Hiko's suspicion. "I'm terribly sorry,"   
Kenshin apologized, wrapping his napkin around the damage. "It's just that I'm just a bit   
tense. Perhaps I'll just step outside for a breath of fresh air, if you'll excuse me."  
  
"Of course. Kaoru, why don't you go with him and make sure he's all right?"  
  
"Please, there's no need for her to--"  
  
"Don't be silly," Kaoru said kindly, already standing up to lead the way as if her shoes   
had stayed on all this time. "Of course I'll come with you."  
  
Hell. Pure unadulterated organic free-range hell. And she was pulling him into the alley   
beside the Akabeko, too. That settled it, there would be no apology to Megumi   
whatsoever.  
  
---  
  
Megumi finished circling the table, shaking a set of little bells at each corner of the cloth.   
"You can put the knife in there now. You're really sure it isn't directly linked to you?"  
  
Yumi dropped it into the large bowl. "Yeah, we all had a bunch of these little dinky   
weapons. They weren't keyed to us like the major ones, so any of us could use them to   
get snacks. Not as much power transfer, but more convenient when you wanted to throw   
stuff around."  
  
"Great," Megumi said. She knelt, clapped twice, and recited the ritual purification chant   
as she sprinkled the knife with salt, rice, and sake before dripping water onto it with a fir   
twig. Nothing alarming happened. She took a longer fir branch hung with linen strips and   
waved it around over the knife, with the same lack of result.  
  
"Um, okay then. Sano, can you hold the sword over the bowl?" He was wearing Hiko's   
silver gauntlets, which Yumi had also brought from the gallery, and the black sword   
looked even blacker by contrast against them, except for the crimson ruby at the top of its   
hilt. This time, Megumi reversed the order, first stroking the blade with the damp twig,   
then following it with sake. The rice and salt clung to the moisture, pale against the   
metal's darkness. She handed the pitcher to Yumi. "How about you pour water down the   
sword into the bowl while I wave the onusa around? Let me get the chant started first,   
and then we'll see how things go."  
  
---  
  
"Miss Kaoru, please stop now. We ought to return to the others immediately." Kenshin   
had followed her far enough into the alley that only a faint reflection of light reached   
them from the street. This was exactly the sort of place where Battousai had loved to   
hunt, even aside from Kaoru playing with him tonight like a cat's prey. It gave him a cold   
trickling feeling down the back of his neck. "Why are you doing this?"  
  
She sounded surprisingly forlorn. "Megumi said she had to try really hard to convince   
you to come out tonight with us. I thought-- I thought maybe I could make you love me   
again."  
  
"I must ask you not to force me into doing something we'd both regret. Kaoru, I do love   
you, more than I can say. But this is madness. You must stop doing this to me. To both of   
us. You know this can't last, and afterward, you must forget about me."  
  
"I don't want to forget you," she whispered, her voice breaking. "I want you to make me   
remember you forever."  
  
"Forever is a very long time." Carefully, as if approaching a dangerous animal, he stroked   
her hair, ready to leap back at a moment's notice. "There are too many things I remember   
that I don't want to happen to you. So please, let's go back, and we can discuss this again   
in daylight. All right?"  
  
She held his hand against her damp cheek. "All right," she finally sighed. "I'm sorry. It   
was stupid to think I could make you want me."  
  
His fingers clenched tight around hers, pulling them to run her nails' edges against his   
mouth. "You have no idea how badly I want you. And that is exactly why we must stop   
this right now."  
  
"You have changed, haven't you, Battousai?" They both jerked toward the tall shape   
silhouetted against the street, standing a few paces away from them with a sword in   
hand. "Time was when you would've had her up against the wall in a minute and dead in   
two. Thought you'd come back here sooner or later, and here we are."  
  
Slowly, Kenshin pushed Kaoru behind him. "Good evening, Jineh."  
  
"Or is that little scrap your replacement for Yumi? I know you killed her. I think she   
needs to be avenged."  
  
"Miss Kaoru, get out of here through the far end of the alley."  
  
Between his shoulderblades, his shirt bunched together in her hands, just as when she   
kissed him. "I can't just leave you here. You don't have any weapons at all, do you?"  
  
His eyes still fixed on Jineh, Kenshin pulled a little box out of his left pocket and passed   
it back to her. "At least you weren't sitting on my other side, or you might have found this   
already. I was going to give it to you at the end of the evening, but I think you had better   
take it now. Tell the others I've taken ill and have gone home, if you like. No doubt my   
body will be lying here afterward, waiting to be collected. Now go." She went, taking   
much of his apprehension with her. "Jineh, what do you want from me?"  
  
Jineh still seemed to be watching Kaoru recede behind him. "I think I've seen that girl   
before. With you, standing near Yumi's body. Is that what you killed her for? It doesn't   
even seem to've reawakened your powers, so she died for nothing, and at the hands of a   
little nobody like you. You were born from nothing, and I'm going to send you back to   
nothing, the way I should have last time."  
  
"You were never anything but a cold-blooded mercenary," Kenshin said. "When Yumi   
came back with you, she said you'd caught her in an alley-- was it this one?-- with not   
enough room to use her naginata when you attacked her. And you always wondered why   
she never wanted you to touch her again. Or why Enishi kept Tomoe from being too kind   
to give you the benefit of the doubt. Where are they now, and what did you do with the   
sakabatou?"  
  
"So you know about that, do you? Don't worry, I'm not going to use it on you yet. I want   
to make you suffer first before I put you out of my misery."   
  
For all his belligerence, Jineh still wasn't moving forward to attack He certainly didn't   
have the sakabatou with him, though he could have left it nearby. Either that, or Enishi   
had it. Yumi had been left to watch Tomoe the night of their raid on the Kamiya dojo,   
and she'd barely caught a glimpse of the silver sword before the two men hid it away, but   
she'd said enough of the arguments between them that there could have been a falling-out   
by now.  
  
Watching Jineh study his stance, Kenchin realized the other man wasn't sure whether he   
was wearing his own sword hidden behind his back, the way Enishi sometimes did. He   
tested this by taking a step forward. Jineh took one step in retreat. "You couldn't kill me   
last time," Kenshin said. "Why do you think you'll do any better now?"  
  
Jineh's sword floated toward the stained napkin around his hand. "Because it seems that   
now, you bleed like any mortal. So maybe you can die like one too. Just like your little   
scrap back there, so your ghosts can keep each other company."   
  
The sword whipped back when Kenshin casually folded his arms, one hand concealed   
from sight at his waist. "I don't think so. I think you should turn around and take   
advantage of the head start I'm going to give you to make this more challenging." Would   
the bluff work? Jineh was wavering, on the edge of turning away. "What number would   
you like me to count to first? One hundred? Fifty? Ten?"  
  
The standoff was broken by a noise behind him, a thin metallic crash and a cry of pain.   
Kaoru? Instantly, Kenshin turned to see what had happened to her, but the only thing that   
met his eyes was the dirt of the alley floor. The taste of blood and ashes filled his mouth   
as Jineh trampled over his unscabbarded back.  
  
---  
  
Kaoru fumbled the box open as she ran, dumping its contents into her palm: something   
that felt cool and faintly serpentine, sliding against itself with a metallic rustle. It wsa a   
silver chain linked from the same sort of little wire rings he'd sewn onto her gloves, with   
a tiny silver fishbone suspended from it. Though without a clasp to open the continuous   
loop, it was still long enough to wrap around her throat several times, or maybe even go   
around her waist as a belt. The fishbone would hold the chain closed with its own weight   
if dropped through the other end. She poured it back into the box and tucked it into her   
sash.  
  
Looking up, she nearly skidded into a chain-link fence blocking that end of the alley from   
the vacant lot behind it. There was barely enough light to outline the wire mesh from   
where she was, much less from where the other two were still standing. She hoped there   
wasn't enough light to outline her, either.  
  
Her shoes may have come off easily under the table, but they stayed on as she climbed   
up. Unfortunately, she hadn't been able to see the strands of barbed wire at the top, either,   
and leaped back down clutching her hand, making the fence rattle against its posts. The   
noise attracted the others' attention. As Kenshin began to move toward her, Jineh stabbed   
him from behind, twisting the blade as he fell. Jineh stepped over his body and advanced   
with all deliberate speed.  
  
---  
  
The bedsheets flowed like water, drowning her. Strange creatures nudged at her through   
the pale linen foam, calling her name. "Tomoe. My own lovely, my sweet dove."  
  
She opened her eyes, dazed. Enishi was lying beside her, on the other side of the   
bedspread but with his face buried in her hair. His lids were shut tight as he pressed   
against her hip again, whispering endearments. With a startled squeal, she rolled away.   
He sat up to put his glasses back on, his breathing still labored. "Ah, you're awake again.   
Have nice dreams while I was out?"  
  
Pulling the sheets all the way up to her chin, Tomoe stared up at her brother. "Jineh's   
sword made a nasty sound between my ribs. It turned all about, like it was cleaning cake   
batter from a bowl. And then I was lying on the cold ground, with a little bluebird all   
trapped in a cage behind me. The pavement tastes like broken glass."  
  
"That doesn't sound nice at all. I'm sorry, pet." He stroked her cheek and kissed it, the   
familiar lines of fraternal concern settling over his face. "I'll help you get dressed again, if   
you like. Or would you rather make a go of it on your own while I fix up some supper for   
us?"  
  
---  
  
Tonight was definitely not turning out as well as Kaoru would have liked. Just a little   
while ago, she'd been sitting inside, blissfully enticing Kenshin into proving he loved her,   
and now she only had a minute or two to come up with some way to fight this jerk who'd   
killed him out here in the dark. And she'd thought Hiko was rude for interrupting them.   
There didn't seem to be anything remotely weapon-like within reach, unless she could   
somehow pull pieces off the fence. She'd already whipped the scarf off her ponytail   
holder and tied it around her hand to bandage the cut she'd gotten from the barbed wire.  
  
Wire? The little rings of silver wire on her gloves had burned Battousai, so she should be   
able to use Kenshin's chain as a weapon against this guy. It needed something to make it   
easier to handle, though. With a grimace at dragging more of her clothing into combat,   
she unwrapped her sash and loosely braided it through the chain. Jineh was almost in   
range already, so she whipped it out at him in warning. The little fishbone glinted at the   
end as she caught it back. He laughed scornfully but didn't come any closer, and lashed   
out with his sword when she flung her chained sash forward again.  
  
---  
  
Megumi put down her little bells again. "Well, this isn't working at all. Do you think we   
should we just give up for the night?"  
  
Flexing his fingers, Sano said, "I'm getting a cramp holding this thing, so if you're done,   
I'm done. Unless Yumi has any ideas. Hey, you still awake over there?"  
  
With her eyes still closed, Yumi said, "Shut up, I'm thinking. It's all about the jewels,   
y'know? While my emerald was parked on that sword, I couldn't do squat until it popped   
back into my naginata, but once it wasn't attached to anything, I was free. So what we   
really need to do is get the jewels outta there." She looked back up at them again from her   
cushion on the floor. "We've been messing around with the blade all night, but we haven't   
done anything with the user-friendly end. How about we try one last round on Bats' ruby   
in the kashira?"  
  
"All right," Megumi said, without much hope. "Sano, can you keep it balanced upright so   
help keep stuff from falling off the top of it?" She sprinkled sake onto the surface with a   
fir twig, helping the rice and salt adhere. Yumi stood back up to pour water over the ruby   
when Megumi resumed waving her onusa and chanting.  
  
Sano yelped, his gauntleted hands twitching around the hilt. "Hey, when did you put hot   
water into that pitcher?"  
  
Yumi stuck her finger into the stream of water as she poured it out. "It's just the same old   
water. What's with you? Jeez, did you cut yourself or something?"   
  
"How would I cut myself just wearing these stupid glov-- what the hell is going on down   
there?" The liquid falling from the tip of the sword was bright red and steaming hot, but   
vanished as it struck the clear liquid in the bowl below it, where Yumi's knife gleamed   
darkly at the bottom amid grains of rice. The ruby in the kashira seemed to be melting   
away, bleeding down the blade.  
  
"Whoa." Megumi set her onusa back down. "Do you think it worked?"  
  
"Beats me." Yumi gave the hollow indentation a good rinsing to make sure it was   
emptied out. As the last red droplets fell into the bowl, all of the liquid flashed crimson   
and began to boil.  
  
Sano jerked the sword away and dropped it. "Holy freaking crap," he proposed, and dove   
for cover. All three of them ended up crammed under the sink as the steam cascaded up,   
followed by the reek of burning rice. When the flames died down, they crept back out to   
peek into the bowl.  
  
Yumi promptly seconded Sano's motion. "Holy freaking crap." The center of the cloth   
was scorched. The bowl was empty, except for a thin residue of rice ash sparkling with   
salt. The black knife was gone. The two of them looked at Megumi questioningly.  
  
"Ooh," Megumi said, biting her lip. "I have a really bad feeling about this."  
  
---  
  
Why couldn't Hiko come out and look for them? Kaoru furiously thought. She'd gotten   
Jineh to back off a few more yards from the fence, thanks to some strategic hits to his   
face, but he'd cut up her sash a bit too. At least the silver chain hadn't come apart yet. The   
alley was narrow enough to mostly limit his attacks to forward stabs or direct overhead   
swings, but that was still enough to do some serious damage if he hit her. It meant she   
couldn't really attack his off side, either, because the only side she could get to was the   
one with the long pointy metal poking out at her.  
  
She prepared to attack him again, holding her left hand forward to distract him with the   
fluttering scarf while she poised the sash over her right shoulder, half-coiled. His katana   
hovered dangerously close to her wrist. He was trying to tempt her into trying to grab the   
unsharpened side of the blade and force it away, but she knew he'd just flip it around to   
cut through her hand. At least she had the slight advantage of seeing his outline against   
the distant streetlights, but he had the huge advantage of having long pointy metal to poke   
at her. Tonight had definitely become the suckiest date ever in the whole history of   
suction.  
  
His words were slightly distorted from the burn she'd cut across his mouth. "Why don't   
you just give up now and let your blood join Battousai's on my sword? Or do you want to   
finish cleaning his off it first with your rag?" Her sash did have bloodstains on it near the   
cuts. She couldn't think about that now.  
  
"Shut up." She feinted to the right and leaped out of the slantwise path of his katana. A   
bouquet of sparks bloomed from his blade as it skittered across the wall, and she whipped   
the sash across at him from the left. It would have clipped him in the ear if it hadn't been   
blocked by his hat. She had quickly formed a passionate hatred for that hat, which was   
either very tight or held on with a chin strap, because she couldn't knock it off his head.  
  
"Yumi didn't get a grave, but I think she deserves funeral offerings anyway. Blood is   
thicker than water, and much richer than sake."  
  
She dodged again, moving back a few steps. If Kenshin hadn't told him Yumi was still   
alive, Kaoru supposed there had to be a good reason, but right now she was getting   
awfully impatient for Kenshin to pop back up and do his share of the fighting. At the   
least, he could go grab Hiko, who was sure to have something dangerous in his car.  
  
Jineh came at her again, with a low running stab that would swing up and slice her in half   
if she let him get the sword's point between her ankles. The best she could do was to   
flatten herself against the wall and let it go past her, then jump over it when he struck   
sideways. The chained sash went out again, striking the side of his neck.   
  
He swore at her, but by that time, she'd gotten past him. Her shadow poured toward him,   
a dark dagger in a sea of red light. For some reason, Jineh was just standing there staring   
instead of starting to chase her. She could live with that. She turned and ran, with the sash   
draped around her neck like a scarf.  
  
When she got back to Kenshin, she grabbed his arms and tried to drag him toward the   
street on his back, out of the pool of blood he was still lying in. There was something   
weird about the blood, though. It looked like something had fallen into it just before she   
got there, a little black knife, and glowing ripples were spreading out around it. When   
they reached the edge of the pool, the ripples began to move backward, and so did   
Kenshin's blood. It was all glowing now, an avalanche of pale fire in reverse, tumbling up   
and over itself into his body. He pulled one hand from her grasp to grope for the knife,   
and his eyes opened like windows of flame.  
  
"I've been looking forward to this," Battousai said. Seizing the dangling ends of the sash,   
he pulled her head down for a bruising kiss, deftly throwing another loop of cloth around   
her neck to form a noose he could drag her by. He stood up, keeping a firm grip on the   
ends with his napkin-bound hand so the silver chain didn't touch his skin. "But first, some   
unfinished business with Jineh."  
  
---  
  
"Megumi, a bad feeling is what you get from cafeteria chili. This is more like what   
happens when you eat potato salad that's been sitting out all weekend. I know you've   
never done that, but trust me on this one." Even with Hiko's gauntlets still on, Sano had   
edged away about ten feet from the sword, which he'd left lying on the mat. "What just   
happened, and what do we do now?"  
  
"Um, well, I think we just transferred the main Battousai-making demon into the knife,   
and it's gone to find Kenshin. This is bad. Really bad. Maybe not as bad as your common   
sense for 'can I eat this?', but really darn bad."  
  
Grabbing a gauntlet from Sano, Yumi put it on and poked the hollow of the kashira.   
"Weird. None of the jewels down in the tsuba headed into the penthouse up here. But I   
guess they know which weapon they belong to, so if you tried to chase out the sapphire, it   
would zap straight back to Enishi's watou. But this sword is the ruby's home base, so it   
shouldn't have anywhere else to go. Wonder what would've happened if my knife hadn't   
been down there?"  
  
"We can find out next time, if Hiko or Battousai don't find us first and send us on the all-  
access tour of Wide World of Pain. How about we finish up the damage control on this   
time before we worry about that, okay? Megumi, you don't have an 'undo last action'   
button for your ritual, do you?"  
  
"Not really, but if we chased the demon out with the purification ritual, then maybe we   
could get it back by making the sword all, I don't know, skanky or something? Yell bad   
words at it? Take it to the bathroom and give it a swirly?"  
  
Yumi grinned. "Nah, it's gotta be much easier than that. Or at least I bet I know a good   
way to skank it up. Know what one of the most universal get-outta-my-house-of-worship   
ritual uncleanliness conditions is?"  
  
"What?"  
  
Megumi sat back from Yumi's whisper. "Oh. Yikes. I mean, good call, but it's not really   
in my timetable, if you know what I mean."  
  
"What?" Sano repeated, more impatiently.  
  
"I'll take care of it. Gimme that little bowl." Leaving the gauntlet behind, Yumi headed   
off to the sink corner.  
  
"What?!" Megumi got up and moved directly between Sano and Yumi to block his view.   
"Hey!"  
  
"Trust her on this one," Yumi called back. "Guys can get really funny about having their   
romantic impressions shattered, you know?"  
  
---  
  
Battousai pulled Kaoru with him as he moved toward Jineh, step by step. Her instant   
reflex had been to fight him off, grabbing onto the sash to create some slack around her   
neck, but he'd simply slid his blade along her wrist, barely scratching the skin. Only a few   
narrow beads of blood had welled up, but it had felt horrible out of all proportion. She   
was afraid she was going to throw up and choke to death as he dragged her into   
stumbling behind him, with her scratched wrist still caught up beside her neck inside the   
noose.  
  
With the hand not holding her leash, he was flipping the little black knife. It looked   
almost like Yumi's, except for the ruby at the end of its hilt. The blade was less than a   
foot long, a tiny thing compared to the full length of a katana, but Jineh still didn't seem   
to like the looks of it. There was a flicker of fear in his face, and the faint reflection of red   
and golden flame.   
  
"Put down your sword and I might let you walk away. Otherwise, I'm going to take you   
apart and leave with some of the pieces, so you'd have to wait for them to grow back on   
their own. And since this knife isn't very big, cutting you up with it could take a long   
time."  
  
Jineh considered this warily. "And holding it in your left hand is supposed to make things   
more challenging again? Or is that just because your right hand is hurt? I think you're still   
bluffing."  
  
"Try me."  
  
The katana flashed forward. The black knife blocked it, shoving it into the wall. With   
vertiginous disbelief, Kaoru felt the leash yank her around, forcing her into a stumbling   
run at arm's length to knock Jineh over. Somehow, she kept her balance, but it didn't help   
when Battousai leaped hard onto Jineh's hand to break his fingers around the katana's hilt,   
then dragged her a few yards further back to tie her leash to the fence. As he returned to   
Jineh, he shook the napkin loose from his healed right hand and stuffed the cloth into the   
other man's mouth to muffle the groans of pain.  
  
"Well, now you can practice swordplay with your left hand too. Though without a sword,   
perhaps you don't need a sword hand at all." The katana sliced down, severing the   
mangled flesh at the wrist. Battousai scooped it up with the point and deftly hurled it over   
the fence as if playing lacrosse. "You mentioned bluffing, didn't you? Ever hear of a   
game called 'Blind Man's Bluff'? Maybe we can try that, if I take out your eyeballs   
before I let you try to run. Spin you around a few times first, too. And I've always   
wondered, if one of us were cut exactly in half, could both halves regrow themselves over   
time? Or could I just take one of them and roll the cut side in salt to find out what half of   
a scream sounds like?"  
  
Kaoru really did think she was going to throw up. "Stop it. Let him go."  
  
"You've already interrupted my meal once tonight. If you do that again, you'll regret it."   
As Jineh tried to struggle up, Battousai sat astride his chest and snapped the man's elbows   
backwards, one over each knee, then lifted the maimed arm almost tenderly and began to   
peel off the skin with the little black knife, leaving it to dangle in long strips. With each   
cut, a soft glow swirled through the ruby, illuminating an incongruous expression of bliss   
horribly similar to the one she saw whenever she scritched the back of Kenshin's neck.  
  
He'd left the katana on the ground beside him, and his attention seemed distracted from   
her, to say the least. Or at least she hoped so, because she didn't want to look too closely   
at him right now either. Surreptitiously, she loosened the sash around her neck. Could she   
slip it off and run past him, or would that be too dangerous? She tugged at the sash a little   
harder and felt the fabric start to give at one end, where Jineh had slashed it before.  
  
Without looking up, Battousai said, "I can hear the fence rattling, you know. Oh, you can   
take that off now, but you're not going anywhere yet. Not without me. And you know   
what will happen to you if you use that katana on me, don't you?"   
  
Damn! She'd forgotten about that. Jineh's eyes swiveled toward her, but Battousai said, "I   
don't like the way you're looking at my little bluebird," and cut them open. Kaoru yanked   
the loop off her head and fell to her knees, losing her tempura.   
  
Slowly, she hauled herself back up the fence to finish untying the sash. The silver chain   
braided around it was still intact, though she wished now that it had been cut in half. She   
wrapped the chained sash around her right hand, hoping her practice with Hiko had   
strengthened her wrist enough for this. When she bent to pick up the katana, Battousai   
didn't stop her, merely smiling up over his work. He'd started to gut Jineh now, and all of   
the organs were still squelching and pulsing, separately alive. "Do you really think that   
will prevent you from becoming one of us when you cut me?"  
  
"I don't know," she said, her voice shaking slightly. "But I have to try."  
  
"You do, don't you? You'll put that willpower to better use at my side. Cut me, then." He   
raised his hand to the blade pointing at him and ran his thumb along the edge. Pale light   
trickled out and shot up the blade toward the hilt, and Kaoru's sash-bound hand around it.   
The silver chain flickered like lightning.  
  
---  
  
"Oh, man," Sano said, backing away from the little bowl Yumi brought back from the   
corner. "It's bad enough seeing the ads for all the gear on tv. I just don't want to hear   
about wings and dams unless it's a bombing-raid game, you know? What's next,   
propellers?"  
  
"Told you." She held it out to Megumi, who waved it off to indicate that she was   
perfectly willing to let Yumi handle the rest of the process as well; similarly, Sano   
handed the gauntlets back to her. She set the bowl back down so she could put them back   
on. "I don't know why menstrual blood is such a huge taboo, but I guess kami don't feel   
any better about it than Rooster-Head here."  
  
He hunched his shoulders down, making his hair flop around in the loose points it clung   
together in. "Can I just say this is not the introduction to practical gynecology that my   
manly parts have hoped for?"  
  
"Though at least it's easier to deal with now than the old days," Yumi blithely continued.   
"All these cool ultra-absorbent things, though actually I like this little rubber cup that just   
dumps out-- good thing too, or I would've had to squeeze stuff back out into the bowl."  
  
Even Megumi looked uneasy. "Um, can we just get on with this? I have no idea what a   
re-skanking ritual should be like, so why don't you just dump it in and see what   
happens?"  
  
"Sure thing." Yumi held the sword steady over the large bowl and poured the contents of   
the smaller one into the concavity where the ruby had been. From their seats on the floor,   
the other two watched her as she stood over them, her brows furrowed with concentration   
to avoid spilling anything over the gauntlets and down into the ash. In a low voice, she   
said, "You guys should take a look. This is wicked cool."  
  
Sano stayed down, but Megumi was curious. "Whoa," she said. "So what happens now?"   
The blood was rising up beyond the dome that simple surface tension would create, into a   
form that suggested cut and polished facets, though it was still rippling in a liquid   
shimmer.  
  
"Dunno." The two girls watched the last drops pour down into it, completing the shape.   
"I've got a hunch, though. Grab some of that ash down there and sprinkle it on top."   
Though still liquid, the blood began to glow. Sano braced himself to head back under the   
sink.  
  
---  
  
Kaoru couldn't move. The pale fire was lapping at the sash around her right hand, soaking   
up into it and flaring out in little plumes around each silver link. Sliding his thumb further   
up the katana, Battousai gripped it just under the hilt as he stood directly before her,   
tracing her throat with his knife before sliding it down the neck of her dress. The blade   
was cold against her skin, with only the small hand-guard hooked over her collar to keep   
it from falling all the way in. He contemplated the chain. "Perhaps it's enough after all.   
But you only have it wrapped around one side."  
  
His kiss bit into her lip, drawing the salt taste of blood. She couldn't free herself from it   
any more than she could stop him from pulling at her left hand, protected only by the   
scarf from her hair. Before touching it directly to the sword, he pressed it against his own   
hand, forcing the blade even deeper into his thumb. She could feel the scrape of metal   
against bone through his flesh, and then he was nudging her hand up to the hilt. It never   
got there.  
  
A warm splash fell between them, soaking into both their chests. It had fallen from his   
knife. She pulled away from him, because she could, and saw blood still dripping from   
the empty hollow at the top of the hilt. She'd let go of the katana, too, and it clung to him   
for a moment, held by simple friction, before falling away from its own weight.  
  
When he reached out, she stepped back. He looked back up from the sword to her, with   
blood throbbing out of the deep cut in his thumb. The golden light in his eyes had snuffed   
out like a candle, leaving only smoke-rings of grief around them.   
  
"Miss Kaoru, I think I had better return home. Please give my regrets to the others."  
  
"Kenshin?" she said tentatively. "Kenshin, what just happened?"  
  
"I don't know, but I have no wish for it to happen again. Especially with you so close by."   
He removed his sweater, painfully clenching his wounded thumb in his fist to keep from   
bleeding into the dark red wool, and handed it to her. "Perhaps if you wear that, it will   
conceal most of the damage to your lovely dress. I'm very sorry."  
  
By the time she'd taken the knife out of her neckline and pulled the sweater over her   
head, he was halfway back to the street. She scooped up the weapons and chased him.   
"Wait, don't you want to take these back with you? What about Jineh?"  
  
He closed his eyes and shuddered. "I believe he'll be incapacitated for some time.   
However, it seems imprudent for me to be armed under these conditions. Perhaps you can   
hide them beneath Mr. Hiko's car for the moment and have him deal with them later.   
Good night."  
  
"But your hand," she insisted. She untied the hair-scarf from her hand, but he pushed it   
away.   
  
"They'll notice you're not wearing it. Perhaps what's left of your sash?" He helped her   
unwind and untangle it. While she wound a piece of the dark cloth over his wound, he   
shook out the silver chain, still miraculously intact, and wrapped it around her neck a few   
times before dropping the fishbone through the end loop and tucking all of it against her   
skin, beneath his sweater. "Miss Kaoru, I almost wish--"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
He sighed. "I should go. It's a long walk back." She still wouldn't let him, fiddling with   
the knot around his thumb..  
  
"Are you sure? Hiko can drive you back if you wait around."  
  
"With the weapons nearby? I'm afraid not. Miss Kaoru, I regret being brusque, but what   
do you want from me right now?"  
  
"The same as before this happened." She brought his hand to her lips. "I want you."  
  
The torn piece of sash nearly fell off as he jerked away. "Even after that? You could have   
been killed tonight, or worse."  
  
"But Battousai isn't you, Kenshin."  
  
"I don't even know that. How can you know?" He stepped back. "Miss Kaoru, I've   
already hurt you enough, and the closer I come to you, the more danger you're in. I   
couldn't protect you from Jineh, and I can't protect you from myself."  
  
"I was perfectly capable of protecting myself from both of you tonight," she retorted, but   
he shook his head.  
  
"No. If my reversal hadn't occurred when it did, you would have been one of us by now. I   
wanted it to happen. Part of me still wants it to happen. I can still taste your blood in my   
mouth, and it makes me want to--" He turned away and left her, nearly running. When   
she emerged from the alley, he was gone.  
  
She slid the weapons under Hiko's car, as he'd suggested, and tied the scarf back into her   
hair. Kenshin's sweater was dark enough that the bloodstains didn't show, and long   
enough to hide her missing sash. She went back into the Akabeko. The hostess handed   
her two takeout boxes and an envelope. "You're Joyce's daughter, right? They've gone to   
the theatre around the corner to see a movie. Your tickets are in here."  
  
Well, that took care of one set of explanations. If only everything else could be so easy.  
  
-----  
  
Megumi's setup and supplies: http://www.mii.kurume-u.ac.jp/~leuers/shime.htm ; also   
Stuart D. B. Picken, _Shinto: Japan's Spiritual Roots_, Tokyo: Kodansha, 1980.  
  
little rubber cup: http://keeper.com/ 


	13. my dove, my undefiled

Whedon and Watsuki sitting in a tree,  
They own RK and Buffy.  
One writes scripts, the other draws manga,  
Hope this disclaimer will avert their anga.  
  
  
Edodale  
By wombat  
  
Chapter 13  
  
  
It was even worse than Megumi had expected. Wretchedly, she sat on the floor of the   
raku gallery beside Sano and Yumi while Hiko paced in front of them. He hadn't   
officially opened up shop for the day yet, and a good thing, too, because something about   
him suggested that the next person to walk in, or maybe even breathe loudly, would   
really wish they hadn't. Every so often he'd stop, just stand there and look at them over   
the top of his glasses, and then go back to pacing again.  
  
Megumi and Sano had bicycled there early that morning to talk to Yumi, missing the tiny   
car already tucked away in the corner of the parking lot. Hiko had taken the black sword   
back out of its case to examine the ruby, but set it down as soon as he saw the pair. "What   
happened last night?" he asked them. Halfway through their jumbled explanation, Yumi   
emerged from her converted locker-room to add her part of the story. Those first four   
words of Hiko's had been the only thing he'd said to them at all in the past hour, about   
which half of which had been spent in this awful limbo.  
  
The bell attached to the front door jingled as someone else came in after all, and Megumi   
winced on their behalf, expecting at the least to see pottery go airborne. Hiko didn't do   
anything horrible to Kaoru when she popped her head in, though, and Megumi relaxed a   
bit. However, instead of saying anything, Hiko just pointed at them in a signal to tell the   
whole story all over again.  
  
When all three of them lamely trailed off at the end, Kaoru just said, "Oh," and sat down   
against the wall. Megumi recognized what she was wearing over her jeans as one of   
Sano's old sweaters. It was dark red, the color of Kenshin's hair or of drying blood, and   
there was an oddly stiff look to part of the front. The sleeves were shortened up so they   
only came partway over her hands instead of burying them, not quite hiding the cuts and   
bruises on her fingers. It looked like her date with Kenshin at the Akabeko hadn't gone   
well either.  
  
Hiko went back to pacing. After another few minutes of this, Sano reached his breaking   
point. "Okay, so what's with the silent treatment here?" Megumi winced again as Hiko   
came to another stop to look at Sano, but then he simply went down the hallway and out   
the front door, making the bell jingle again.  
  
"He didn't tell you guys yet?" Kaoru tugged her sleeves the rest of the way over her   
hands. "You were right, you know. After you transferred the ruby to Yumi's knife, it did   
go look for Kenshin. And he went totally Battousai on the spot."  
  
"Inside the Akabeko? Crap!"  
  
"No, I was outside with him, and he was already dead. Long story. But he popped back   
up as Battousai without needing to stick anyone with the knife first. After that, Battousai   
beat up Jineh, and then went away without me killing him even once."  
  
"You guys ran into Jineh?" Yumi made a face. "He's been out to get Bats for a long time,   
you know."  
  
"Well, that's why Kenshin was dead in the first place. Battousai made up for it later,   
though. Don't ask me about the details, okay?"  
  
Hiko returned with Yumi's knife and Jineh's sword. He picked up Battousai's sword as   
well, and locked all three weapons back into the case before sliding the rack of shelves   
back in front of it. He held out his hand to Yumi until she gave him the extra key. Finally,   
he sat down, relieving everyone at the prospect of no more pacing, and spoke again. "It   
appears that Jineh underwent a remarkable recovery. By the time I returned to the alley   
last night, there was nothing except for a partially uncovered manhole and a few stray   
giblets. I assume he escaped back down into the sewers. Miss Kamiya-Summers, in a   
situation such as this, you really ought to have found me and told me at once, instead of   
waiting for the end of a three-hour movie."  
  
Another horrible silence took hold. "Um," said Megumi. "So what do we do now?"  
  
"I propose that we repeat the purification ceremony under more controlled conditions."  
  
Edgily, Sano asked, "How many of us actually need to be part of we?"  
  
"Miss Rosenberg will need to officiate, of course, and I should certainly like to observe   
the proceedings this time. We ought to keep Kenshin on the premises as well, in order to   
observe any effects on him directly. Miss Komagata, you may be needed to reverse the   
process again, unless you wish to give us some of the necessary materials beforehand."   
  
Sano looked downright awed at that last tactful phrase. "So for Kaoru and me, attendence   
is optional, right? Wanna do lunch?"  
  
"I can't," Kaoru said. Her hands were still buried inside the sweater cuffs, but they   
seemed to be fidgeting. They gave Megumi an odd impression of two knitted snakes   
trying to smooch. "Mom's taking a personal day to hit the beauty salon and go shopping,   
so I have to stay home with Yahiko all afternoon. Lots of homework to do anyway."  
  
Yumi stretched, still wearing the oversized t-shirt and sweatpants she used for pajamas.   
"Well, I'm in. Might be interesting to see Bats again if he does show up, and if he does,   
you'll need someone to keep an eye on him so he doesn't go postal. Are we going back to   
school for this, or should someone go grab Kenshin and bring him here?"  
  
"Are you sure he's still going to be Kenshin?"  
  
Kaoru's question made everyone freeze. Hiko was the first to recover. "Both the ruby and   
the knife are still here, and I returned to school last night and deadbolted him into his   
room. So even if he is Battousai, he's unarmed and contained. I should have preferred to   
keep the weapons here, but it appears less risky to move them than him, considering all   
the unknown factors at present. Miss Rosenberg, are your supplies still at school, or did   
you take them home?"  
  
She chewed on a loose strand of tawny hair. "The bowls and stuff are in my locker, but   
I'll need fresh pieces of fir tree and a new cloth that isn't all burned in the middle. I guess   
we should have more rice, salt, and sake in the patrol box in here, and I don't know if you   
want to mess around with putting silvery things onto Jineh's sword to check if we hear   
any yells of pain coming up from the sewers somewhere."  
  
Yumi gave a thumbs-up. "I'm all for that."  
  
"You guys gonna try putting Jineh's rock back into his sword?"  
  
"Um, that might be a bad idea, considering that the knife went to go look for Kenshin last   
night. I bet Jineh's already pretty mad at us, and I don't think we need to give him his   
sword back and probably his soul-eating diner's card too. For that matter, we probably   
ought to try a purification ceremony directly on Kenshin to see what happens. Maybe   
nothing, since he's never had a problem with ofuda, but I don't know how different things   
would be with Battousai."  
  
With one sleeve, Kaoru rubbed her eyes. "Really, really different," she said.   
  
---  
  
It took two seconds for Hiko to unlock Kenshin's door and slam it shut behind him again,   
his silver-wrapped katana in hand. The boy wasn't in the sleeping bag on the workbench,   
and the window above the laundry rack was open. Hiko tensed, expecting the worst. A   
rustling noise came from a dark nook of the floor, and he automatically stabbed at it,   
expecting to hit a stray mouse.   
  
Instead of a dying squeak, however, there was only a pained, sleepy "Oro?" Kenshin   
crawled out from beneath the workbench, still wearing the same bloodstained clothes   
from last night. There were dustbunnies in his hair, and he looked deathly tired. "Good   
morning," he said. "I hope Miss Kaoru is well?"  
  
"She asked me to give you this." Hiko tossed him his sweater.   
  
"I assume from my door that she told you of last night's events. If Battousai can emerge   
at any time, there isn't much hope left for me, especially if he's triggered by her presence.   
All I can hope is that you find the sakabatou quickly."  
  
"Oddly enough, it seems that neither of you is entirely to blame." Hiko summarized the   
previous night's rituals far more succinctly than its participants had.  
  
Kenshin considered this. "I see."  
  
"Not that you are completely exculpated, either. If both of you are determined to remain   
complicit in her downfall, I would prefer to concentrate our resources on finding the   
sakabatou, rather than resorting to heroic measures to separate you. Miss Kamiya-  
Summers was looking excessively innocent last night at dinner, considering what I could   
see of your behavior above the table." Kenshin twitched, but didn't attempt any excuses   
yet. "Unfortunately for you, I consider it your own responsibility to defend your virtue,   
such as it is."  
  
The blue-violet gaze dropped wearily. "Suppose the situation were reversed, and I were   
the one constantly importuning her despite her misgivings?"  
  
"Unlike that supposition, she cannot take you by brute force. Nor is she likely to   
impregnate you or rip your soul away. If you've already warned her of all of these risks,   
then either she is prepared to accept them or you must prevent her from doing so. I think I   
need not suggest which of those two options seems more sound. In the meantime, we   
have a busy day ahead. Don't bother washing up yet."  
  
---  
  
Tomoe sat very still as Enishi combed her hair in front of her mirror. He kept stopping   
every minute or so to admire her eyes, in which the golden flecks had thickened and   
clustered into soft trailing streaks. "That's lovely, that is," he crooned softly. "I really   
should fetch someone for your tanto to see what happens now. Any particular sort you'd   
like?"  
  
She slid her shoulders about, in a combination of shrugging and squirming away. "But   
I'm not hungry that way."  
  
"Oh, I'm sure you'll come over all peckish once something's put in front of you." From   
behind her chair, he leaned his cheek against hers. "Tell you what, I'll bring you a   
surprise present someday soon. Won't that be a treat for my sweetheart? Now hold still,   
or I can't put up your hair all proper. I can trust you with your hairpin again, now can't I?"  
  
"You did say I could have it back, Enishi."  
  
He tapped the carved rosewood shaft against his teeth very carefully, so that the hairpin's   
silver-capped point didn't touch his flesh. "You won't be hurting yourself again with it,   
now. Promise me that."  
  
"I promise."   
  
Expertly, he twisted up her hair and pinned it into place. The point grazed her scalp,   
curling out a wisp of smoke like a stray tendril. "Ah, bloody hell. I'm sorry, love," he   
murmured, kissing the smooth, shining coil and lingering to breathe its fragrance. "You   
all right, then?" His hands slid down her arms, pulling her underkimono ever so slightly   
off her shoulders, and he leaned down to nip its collar.  
  
She shivered. "Enishi, don't."  
  
"But we're the only two left now, my dove. Yumi's gone, I've chased off Jineh, and   
Battousai left us a long time ago. I've kept you safe all this time, and now it's just us   
together." He'd moved up from the collar to the back of her neck, giving it little love-bites   
between phrases. "All those years ago, I heard the pretty sounds you made when   
Battousai did this same thing to you. Wouldn't you like that again?"  
  
As she slid the rosewood pin back out, her hair tumbled down across his face, and he   
made a low rumble of pleasure as he tasted the silken flow. However, he stopped when he   
saw their reflection in the mirror. She was holding the silver point inches from his throat,   
her face reasonably sane, but sad. "Not from my own brother."  
  
He withdrew, but not without protest. "But what's that to do with us anymore? Our   
parents and our sisters are long dead, so who's to know? It would make our lives less   
lonely, and it's good enough for Izanagi and Izanami, so why not?"  
  
"Because I don't want to, and that should be good enough for you." She pulled her   
underkimono back up, tucked the pin into her sleeve, and took up the comb herself.   
"You've all those girls at the Yoshiwara working for you. Why not one of them?"  
  
Enishi had retreated to sit on the edge of her bed, but was still watching her with wide   
turquoise eyes. It was the same expression he'd had when they were children and she had   
to finish the household tasks before she could play with him. Even as a baby, he'd had the   
same intense fascination with her; by the time he was born, their sisters were much older   
and already in service at the shrine with their mother, leaving her to care for him most of   
the time. "They're not our kind. I couldn't play Yumi's knife game with them if I took the   
fancy, leastwise not more than once. Nor most of the other games we had." He looked   
down at his hands, clasped in his lap. "And I don't love them the way I do you. Tomoe,   
my sweet little dove, you're all I have left, and all I live for."  
  
She took a long ribbon from the table and tied her hair back in a simple doubled loop, not   
answering him. When she stood up to complete her wardrobe, though, he leaped up to   
help with the complex task of fastening her obi, not touching her any more or longer than   
strictly necessary, except with that same yearning stare.  
  
---  
  
"Ms. Summers? Ah, good afternoon, Yahiko. Is your mother in?"  
  
Yahiko peered out at them in the dusk, his practice clothing accessorized with a powdery   
orange mustache and a handful of cheesy poofs. "Hey there, Mr. Hiko. Hey Kenshin,   
feeling any better after sitting next to Kaoru made you sick? Nah, Mom's still out doing   
chick stuff. She should be back in about an hour, though. Wanna come in?" He gestured   
vaguely toward the back of the house, from which a confused noise of cartoons and   
thwacking could be heard.  
  
"That won't be necessary. Kenshin had wished to apologize for his hasty departure last   
night, but if she's not here--"  
  
"Hey, Yahiko, who is it?" Kaoru emerged from the hallway, wiping sweat from her face   
with the hand not holding her bokken, and turned on the porch light. "Oh!"  
  
Both she and Kenshin looked at Hiko instead of each other. He drummed his fingers   
against his folded arms. "Unless, of course, you wish to remain here until Ms. Summers   
returns, if that would be acceptable to all parties. Otherwise I'll bring you to the gallery   
and you can help us pack rakuware after all."  
  
"Yeah, I guess he can stay." She didn't sound as enthusiastic as she might have before   
yesterday evening. Kenshin couldn't really blame her for that. "Should we call you when   
he wants to go back, or are you just going to come back and get him after you finish   
packing your shipment?"  
  
"Either will do. You have my number already, I believe? Excellent, I'll see you again in a   
few hours." Hiko returned to his car, where Yumi was sitting in the passenger's seat. She   
waved at them. Yahiko stuffed his remaining cheesy poofs into his mouth and   
disappeared back into the house to reload.   
  
This left Kenshin standing on the front porch on the other side of the screen door from   
Kaoru, who was still avoiding eye contact with him. His hair was still slightly damp, and   
so were the clean clothes he'd changed into. He shifted awkwardly as she watched Hiko   
drive away. "I was just sparring with Sano out in the back yard, but I was already figuring   
it's about time to hand him off to Yahiko."  
  
"I'm sure you're an excellent instructor to both of them."  
  
"I guess. Sano keeps depending on his advantage in reach too much. It's fine if he's just   
fighting me or Yahiko, but once he goes up against a bigger opponent like Hiko, he'll get   
clobbered. It'll even out a little bit in the dark, even with reflective tape on the practice   
weapons." She tucked her bokken under her arm, looked at the inside doorknob, and   
wiped cheesy poof powder off it with her sleeve. "I guess nothing exciting happened with   
the ritual stuff today?"  
  
"Not especially. They established that the ruby won't leave my sword if there's no   
immediate transfer weapon for it. Also, Miss Megumi and I suspect that since Jineh's   
sword has already been activated by my blood as Battousai, he'll recover his powers if he   
regains possession of it."  
  
"Great." Hiko's car vanished around the corner, leaving Kaoru with no choice but to look   
back at Kenshin again. "Are you coming inside the house, or do you just want to stand   
there?"  
  
"Which would you prefer?"  
  
"Oh, don't be stupid, come on in." Yahiko had flopped down in front of the tv again, but   
she poked him in the butt with her bokken. "Hey, don't you want to beat up Sano's   
kneecaps again? Go wash that orange stuff off your hands."  
  
Her brother huffed at her, but headed into the kitchen. She turned off the VCR. "So, what   
do you want to do until Mom gets back? I guess you shouldn't really spar with any of us,   
but Yahiko has all these Dragonball tapes if you want to see the stuff he was telling you   
about last night. Or I brought back your leftover kitsune-zushi from the Akabeko if you   
want to finish that up. Did you have anything to eat today?"  
  
Yahiko returned just in time to hear the last part. "Don't let her cook anything for you   
unless you like it Cajun blackened style." She tossed her bokken at his head. He caught it   
and headed around the corner to go outside.   
  
"The leftovers will be fine, thank you. I'm sorry to put you to so much trouble." Kenshin   
obediently sat down on the sofa cushion she pointed to. While she disappeared into the   
kitchen, he listened to the noises from the back yard, though he couldn't see any of what   
was going on. The Doppler effect from Yahiko's yells suggested that he was making short   
sprints, dashing in and out of Sano's reach, which was sensible enough. It would tire him   
out in a prolonged battle, though.  
  
Kaoru returned with his half-eaten kitsune-zushi on a plate. She hadn't microwaved it   
quite long enough, making the tofu skin scalding hot while some of the rice remained   
cold, but it was food. He stirred it around to equalize the temperature and ate it slowly,   
suppressing the circumstances of his previous serving. Instead of sitting down next to   
him, she stood beside the sofa while he ate, not even actually watching him. It was more   
as if she were standing guard. When he finished, he cleared his throat. "Miss Kaoru, if   
my presence makes you uncomfortable, I don't wish to be a burden. I can walk back to   
school, if need be."  
  
"No, it's okay." In a sudden rush, she said, "Kenshin, I'm really sorry about last night, and   
about everything. You're right, I shouldn't've been pushing you, and I'll stop, I promise.   
It's just that--" Just as suddenly, she stopped, shaking slightly.  
  
Astonished, he reached out to her, but she jerked away. He eased his hand back down,   
slowly. "No, I'm the one who ought to apologize for endangering you. As long as we both   
know where matters stand now, we can act accordingly." Whatever that meant, he   
thought to himself.  
  
"I just--" she began again, and stopped. "Um. You know, there's still all that blood on my   
dress, and I'm afraid to let Mom see it. Do you think you could help get it out?"  
  
This time, she let him touch her hand, though he could feel it tense up as his fingers   
brushed it. "I can try," he said quietly. "It's the least that I can do."  
  
---  
  
Inside the Yoshiwara, Enishi took a few minutes to watch the girls on stage, which he   
almost never did. They were pretty enough, he supposed, probably good for a bounce or   
two, but not what he wanted. Even if the dancing was simply a job for them, rather than   
something they particularly enjoyed, he'd still prefer to have someone who didn't reveal   
herself to anyone but him, her body or her heart.   
  
His own sweet dove, caged safely up in their nest-- in a way, he liked that Tomoe was   
still rejecting him. It must be that she was still remaining faithful to Battousai, after all   
this time, but once she came around, she'd stay just as faithful to him. He was sure of it.   
He was getting a bit tired of waiting, to be sure, but the patience was half the game,   
making the reward all the sweeter at the end.   
  
Pushing his glasses up, he returned to the office. The doorman was already waiting for   
the discussion Enishi had arranged earlier. He seemed edgy, as might be expected, having   
never really balanced out the pain and humiliation of blunt scrotal trauma against the   
relief at not losing his job, or life. "Yeah, boss? What can I do for you?"  
  
Enishi sat down at his desk. "Could you recognize Yumi's redhead again?"  
  
"I guess so. Why?"  
  
"I'd like to have a chat with that redhead, if you can arrange it."  
  
"She's bound to turn up around one of the shrines. How soon do you want her?"  
  
"Whenever you find her." He didn't bother correcting the pronoun; for all he knew, it   
really was a girl instead of Battousai, although he doubted it. "Once you do, fetch her   
back here. Tell her we've found another of Yumi's old paychecks or some rot like that,   
that should do it."  
  
"All right. This could take a while, though. Got someone else to cover the door?"  
  
"I'll find someone, don't you worry. And you'll be paid your usual, too. Now get on with   
you." Tapping his fingers together, Enishi considered possible outcomes. If it was   
Battousai, what condition would he be in? If it wasn't, what did this girl have to do with   
Yumi, and was Yumi alive or dead? And most importantly, how would any of this help   
him fully win Tomoe over?   
  
After Battousai's apparent death, she'd gone all to pieces. The bastard must have done   
something to her to gain the strength to escape. Enishi had tenderly cared for her ever   
since then-- the few short weeks before the sakabatou struck them all down, and then on   
the other side of the gulf of time, these past three years in this strange modern world. At   
first, with the sakabatou close behind them, he hadn't had time to think things over. But   
after they were all brought back, he'd decided that the way to make things right again for   
Tomoe would be to take back whatever Battousai had stolen from her. And the best way   
to do that would be to completely dispel his energy by finding the sakabatou and killing   
him with it.  
  
But now she was getting better on her own. She was almost well enough now to fend for   
herself again. Soon she might not need him any more, and she might leave him. Well, she   
wasn't going to leave him for Battousai a second time. She couldn't, if he found and killed   
Battousai first.  
  
The last time Jineh had seen Yumi, she'd been with Battousai. If this little redhead at the   
shrine wasn't Battousai himself, it would still be a girl who knew something about Yumi.   
She might know something about Battousai as well, and maybe she'd tell Enishi all about   
it with the right encouragement.  
  
It had been a long time since Enishi had played the knife game with Yumi, or any other   
girl. He hoped he hadn't forgotten how to do it right.  
  
---  
  
Returning from upstairs, Kaoru set a pile of dry towels on the counter and dumped a   
bucket into the kitchen sink. Her dress poured out, limp and drowned. "I tried washing   
the blood out when we got home, but most of it just wanted to stay there. So I just left it   
to soak in cold water overnight."  
  
"Prudent enough," Kenshin said. He checked the fabric tag before dabbing on some soap   
and rubbing gently, trying not to think about which parts of her body the cloth had lain   
against. "None of the dye is bleeding out, so I think it will be all right in the end."  
  
"Did you like it?" she asked shyly.  
  
"The dress? It's very lovely," he said, successfully quashing the urge to recite odes and   
sonnets to the way she looked even in sweaty practice clothes, holding a singed bokken.   
Something of that must have silently expressed itself anyway, because she looked away   
from him and blushed.  
  
The blood was definitely washing out now. It showed up most against the light cherry   
blossoms, but was rapidly disappearing against the darker background. "Um," she said   
again.  
  
After a while, he prompted, "Yes?" He turned off the tap and bunched up the dress   
against the side of the sink to start squeezing out water.  
  
Her hands were white knots of sinew and bone. "You started to say something last night   
about what you wanted to do. What was it? I-- would it have killed me?"  
  
When he reached for a towel, she flinched away. There was nothing he could do to   
reassure her, or at least nothing that wouldn't risk drawing her back to him. He   
desperately wanted to. He couldn't. He laid the dress over the towel, rolled it up, and   
twisted it to get more water out.   
  
"Not immediately, no. In fact, prompt surgical intervention would probably assure   
survival, although some degree of scar tisssue would be inevitable." He unrolled it and   
repeated the process with another fresh towel, and then another, until no more moisture   
emerged. "There," he said, holding it up to the light. "All you need to do now is hang this   
up to air out."  
  
"Thanks." Folding the damp dress loosely over one arm, she cradled it protectively. "Is...   
is it still something you want to do?"  
  
He braced himself. "What would you do if I said yes?" He wasn't sure how she'd respond   
to this: anger? disgust? deadly force? any number of possibilities, except for what she   
actually said. He could barely hear her voice, and he had to lean closer to hear her clearly.   
When he did, he wished he hadn't.   
  
"I think I'd want you to do it anyway. Do you?"  
  
A shudder of horror went through him. "No. I don't. Miss Kaoru, why would you say   
such a thing?"  
  
"Why did you ask me that question in the first place?" Angrily, she wiped her unladen   
sleeve across her eyes. "I can't stand it any more, having to fight you all the time, never   
knowing when someone is going to show up and kill you. Never knowing when I might   
have to kill you, or at least Battousai, who looks just like you except that he's a vicious   
sadistic creep who wants me as much as I want you."  
  
"Kaoru--"  
  
"I know I said I'd stop pushing you, so I promise I won't bring this up ever again.   
Sometimes I think that if I gave in to Battousai, at least I'd have some idea of what it   
would be like with you. And I wouldn't have to lose you the same way I lost Dad. He   
should the one teaching Yahiko how to fight, not me. Dad gave me that bokken Yahiko's   
using now, the one that's all singed along one side because it caught on fire after I broke   
your neck with it that first time, and I--"  
  
He caught her as she fell to her knees, sobbing. There was no possible way to soothe her   
except with kisses, and he did. If she'd pressed the matter then, she could have taken him   
right there on her kitchen floor, and he was deeply grateful afterward that she hadn't. She   
barely even responded, except by quieting as he rocked her against his chest, whispering   
her name into her hair.  
  
"I'm sorry," she finally said, with a last sniffle, and drew away. "So I guess we're back to   
the start now. You aren't going to let me, are you?"  
  
"No, I'm afraid not. Forgive me, but I don't think you've clearly considered all of the risks   
involved for you. After all, you are only fifteen."  
  
Her eyes were as blue as Enishi's sapphire, as blue as the evening sky beginning to kindle   
the first few stars outside. "So were you when you left your village to find that guy with   
the sword. Did you know all the risks you were taking then?"  
  
"If I had, I wouldn't have gone."  
  
"But you went anyway."  
  
"So I did," he admitted. "But I still won't let you have your way with me." Reaching   
forward, he stroked the damp dress still hanging over her arm. "Why, you might treat me   
as carelessly as your clothing, which I took so much effort to wash clean and which you   
put straight onto strange orange powder."  
  
"What? Oh, Yahiko's cheesy poofs from the doorknob...." It worked, he'd made her smile.   
She even hit his hair. "Why didn't you say anything?"  
  
"It didn't seem like a good time." He helped her get back up and try to shake off cheesy   
poof powder. It just smeared.  
  
"Oh well, it should come out in the regular laundry. It's not like Yahiko's clothing doesn't   
have enough of it." She glanced at the clock on the wall and made a slightly panicked   
noise. "I'd better get him inside now. It's his turn to make dinner, which means frozen   
pizza, but if he doesn't put it in the oven now, Sano's going to be hungry enough to eat the   
cardboard box it came in before it's ready."  
  
"Mr. Harris eats dinner with you regularly?" He didn't sound slightly jealous, did he?   
Perhaps he did, from the coy grin Kaoru gave him.  
  
"When he comes over, he claims he's paying for his Kamiya Kasshin Ryuu lessons that   
way. He brings frozen pizzas, Yahiko puts them in the oven, and everybody's happy as   
long as they can digest lactose. Will you want any?"  
  
"I don't know," he said, mystified. "Is it that kind of bread that's similar to okonomiyaki?"  
  
"Kind of. Oh, you'll see when Yahiko gets them out of the box. Before I fetch him,   
though, I've got one more question for you."  
  
He tried to maintain the light tone. "It doesn't involve trigonometry, does it?"  
  
"Well, it could seem sort of math-related. At least I think I've heard something about the   
osculation of circles."  
  
"Oro?" he asked, out of sheer joy.  
  
"I mean, even if you won't let me ravish you, you don't mind if we keep kissing once in a   
while, do you?"  
  
"Nmmph," he said, delirious with the taste of cheesy poofs on her lips.  
  
-----  
  
(Yeep-- just realized that in some of my previous chapter revisions, I must've accidentally   
deleted my last thank-you note to all of the reviewers who've been reviewing by writing   
review-type things. But it must've been a while since the last one anyway. So muchos   
nachos to Winter, Jason, Colleen, Firuze, Kori and everyone else who's been kind enough   
to let me know you've enjoyed this piece or the possibly optional-chapter-to-be that's also   
up. I couldn't keep writing this without you. Hey Jason-- when you talk about Battousai   
and Kaoru getting "hitched", do you actually mean "laid"? I'm just having these wild   
images of Battousai doing the chicken dance at the wedding reception, which would   
probably be easier to deal with than whatever the bachelor party had been like....) 


	14. the ravell'd sleeve of care

I don't even own a full set of marbles, much less Rurouni Kenshin or Buffy.  
  
  
Edodale  
By wombat  
  
Chapter 14  
  
  
Standing in the cafeteria, Kaoru felt someone bump her out of the lunch line. She   
automatically turned and growled, only to take it back when she saw Kenshin behind her   
with a stack of three bento boxes. "Miss Megumi and I prepared these during home   
economics class, so you needn't take your chances with today's menu," he said. "Unless   
you'd prefer to do so?"  
  
Happily, Kaoru retreated from the prospect of soy-protein bowl and followed him to the   
table where Sano was already waiting for her. Taking the uppermost box from Kenshin,   
she opened it up to admire the carved carrot flowers. Sadly, the carroty ikebana was   
wasted on Sano. Around the slice of fish-cake he was stuffing into his mouth, he asked,   
"Where is Megumi, anyway? She didn't catch that stomach flu that's been going around,   
did she?"  
  
"Miss Megumi is in the library finishing her homework for Monday, as she has shrine   
duties all weekend for the festival and her evening tonight will be taken up by a new   
purification ritual on my behalf."  
  
"Another one? I didn't hear Hiko planning anything this time."  
  
"Well, it's not like you hang around much in the library with us any more," Kaoru pointed   
out to him before turning back to Kenshin. "Wowsers, how did you get the miso-stuffed   
baby peppers to stay this green and crispy? Mine always end up more like garden slugs."   
Sano and Kenshin exchanged nervous glances before both wisely choosing to remain   
silent. "But I don't think he and Yumi are showing up this time," she continued. "So it'll   
be just Megumi and the two of us."  
  
Sano considered this, narrowly watching the way she was playing with Kenshin's hair.   
"Want me to come along?"  
  
"Do you want to? I mean, I'm mostly there in case I have to kill him."   
  
"Oh. Then I think I'll give it a pass this time, if that's fine with you."  
  
As Kaoru commenced neck-scritching, Kenshin automatically flopped forward onto the   
table with a dazed smile. "Mmm," he agreed, as Sano whisked a slice of fish-cake out of   
his bento box as well.  
  
---  
  
"Still slug-a-bed, Tomoe love?" Sunlight shone dull gold through the panels of painted   
silk around her futon. Enishi was sitting next to her, his feet trailing off the side to stay on   
the tatami mat underneath. Their flat was even emptier than before; most of the few items   
he'd furnished it with in the first place had been packed up and carried off to their new   
home. He hadn't yet shown it to her or even told her where it was, saying only that he   
wanted to keep it a surprise until everything was ready. Every time he said that, it was   
with the same pleased grin he leaned down to kiss her with now. "I've been out and about   
for half the day already, and you're still curled up here with your head under one wing."  
  
"I was packing my clothes until rather late last night," she said, half-raising herself on   
one elbow. "Did you take them all away?"  
  
"Not quite all; there was that fresh outfit you'd left out. It's what you'll be putting on   
now, I suppose? Though your nightie's very charming too, with all those little buttons   
down the front. Did it give you sweet dreams?"  
  
His habitual question troubled her more this morning than usual, but it had become   
automatic for her to hide her true feelings from him. "I don't remember," she lied.   
"Should I get dressed now so we can go?"  
  
"Well, sweetheart, I'd like you to meet some visitors with me, if you don't mind. That   
won't be for a few hours, at least, but you may as well change now as later. Anything I   
can help you with?" He was holding her comb but reached out with his empty hand   
instead, sweeping her hair off her shoulders and gathering it together in a loose rope.   
Wrapping it around his fingers, he trailed his hand to the end and raised it up to caress his   
face, making her finish sitting fully upright.  
  
"Enishi, please don't do that."  
  
His eyes were dreamy as he sat there without answering her, winding the silk glove of her   
hair around his hand again and tracing it down his throat. Its tension drew her closer,   
pulling her head to his shoulder. When he lifted the comb, instead of using it to unskein   
the dark rope, he gently ran the edges of its teeth against her cheek. His lips were about to   
follow their trail until she brought her silver-tipped hairpin out from under her pillow.   
She lifted it between them in a way that made it unclear whether she intended to stab him   
or herself with it.  
  
"I said don't," she repeated. "Go away until I've changed into my clothing. Please?"  
  
Reluctantly, he let her go, dropping her comb into her lap as he stood up. His shadow   
lingered on the other side of the screen until she warned him further off. At least her   
clothing was still draped over the top, so she wouldn't have to step out from behind its   
cover yet. Relieved, she took off her nightgown and got dressed.  
  
Slowly, she combed out her hair. She'd dreamed of Kenshin last night-- not Battousai, but   
the soft-spoken boy who'd crept out to meet her in their village shrine that winter   
morning. But in this dream, he hadn't stopped at a single kiss. Instead, his mouth and   
hands had relentlessly pulled her further into oblivion while his eyes' blue depths faded   
from dark violet to cool turquoise.  
  
Once she'd put up her hair with the pin, she shook out her nightgown to fold it. The hem   
wouldn't hang straight, though. The buttons had gone out of line, leaving one side   
dangling askew at the bottom. But she always put on and took off the nightgown by   
lifting it over her head, never unfastening it at all. She took a closer look, and sank to her   
knees beneath the weight of unwelcome revelation. The button over the heart of her   
bodice had been torn off, and a strand of silver hair was caught in one of the love-knots   
of ribbon that gathered the lace at the wrists.  
  
---  
  
"Good afternoon, Mr. Harris," Kenshin said with a faint air of surprise. "To what do we   
owe the pleasure of your company?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm thrilled to see you too." Sano slouched into the library, hands in his pockets.   
He guessed it had been a while since he'd come here after class instead of heading   
straight for the raku gallery by himself or following Kaoru home. She waved at him from   
a study table but didn't come over to join them at the desk. "Just thought I'd change my   
routine a little," he said. "Besides, I want to compare my history notes with you two for   
the test on Monday."   
  
"I'm afraid Miss Kaoru is occupied with other classwork at the moment. But perhaps after   
study hall is concluded, the three of us can consult with one another at her house? I've   
already arranged to accompany her there for the same purpose."  
  
"Sounds good to me." He swung his bookbag onto the floor and straddled the chair on the   
other side of the desk from Kenshin, who gave him another minute of polite attention   
before returning to his trigonometry. Several bright pink inkblots later, Sano spoke up   
again, under his breath. "Hey. Does Yumi know Hiko's the guy that killed her?"  
  
Kenshin batted the end of his topknot back over his shoulder. "I couldn't say. I doubt it   
would matter to her now, however. Why do you ask?"  
  
"I've been getting kind of creeped out lately when I hang around with the two of them at   
the gallery."  
  
"In what way have you been, er, creeped out?"  
  
Sano pondered this, trying to put it into words. "It's just been getting all weird around   
them, especially Yumi. She keeps giving this weird grin to the back of his head, like she's   
thinking about, I dunno, ripping his head off and sucking his brains out."  
  
"Oro?" The fountain pen tapped his notebook in a contemplative way. "Just a moment,   
please. Miss Kaoru?" he called softly.  
  
After sticking a post-it note to the page she was on, she walked over. "What is it?"  
  
He beckoned her down to whisper a question into her ear. "Not at this time, obviously,"   
he added in more normal tones. "But perhaps after the end of tonight's ritual?" She   
nodded, smiling, and returned to her books. "Is it that sort of grin?" Kenshin asked Sano,   
too softly for her to overhear.  
  
Still agape, Sano swung back from staring after Kaoru. "Holy kamoley. Don't tell me   
Yumi wants to jump Hiko's bones."  
  
"Then I shall do my best to avoid telling you that, Mr. Harris."  
  
---  
  
After several years, Megumi could practically dance the kagura in her sleep, but that   
didn't mean it was a good idea. The shrine courtyard's flagstones were covered with   
vivid, slippery leaves, and the long shadows of autumn afternoon were creeping across   
them to add further foot hazards. Suppressing a yawn, she tried to stay alert by jingling   
her branch of little suzu bells extra-loud.   
  
She was sleepy, and cold, and really rather cross. Because of the full moon this past   
week, the whole Hikogumi had been patrolling the streets three nights in a row just in   
case anything funny turned up. But they hadn't seen anything-- no zombies, no Jineh, no   
nothing except for really sore feet and way too much green tea mochi. She'd also kept   
trying more purification rituals on Kenshin and his sword, and none of them had done   
anything except make him soggy from all the buckets of ice water that Mr. Hiko kept   
dumping over him in the name of ancient Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu tradition.   
  
The only thing they'd figured out was that at least the last transformation into Battousai   
hadn't been completely spontaneous. It'd been triggered by his weapon touching fresh   
blood, as usual; it was just that in this case, it happened to be Kenshin's own blood from   
Jineh just having killed him. But if nothing new happened with tonight's ritual, she was   
giving up for now.  
  
A junior miko nearly winged her with the poorly-timed wave of a fan. Honestly, that girl   
would probably never get a sense of rhythm even if she got a rhythm transplant from the   
entire cast of Riverdance. If she ever got one of the kagura roles that involved a sword,   
they'd all be in big trouble.  
  
A few last drumbeats and tweets from the flute, and they were done. Megumi sighed,   
tucking her own fan into her sleeve, and started to file back with the other girls into their   
building. One of the spectators stepped forward, though, and blocked her way. After a   
few drowsy blinks, she recognized him. "Uh, hi," she said. She swatted another miko   
with her bells to take them inside for her. "Don't tell me-- you're not just the doorman for   
the Yoshiwara, you're also their talent scout."  
  
He completely ignored what she'd said. "You're Yumi's friend, right? We found more   
stuff that belongs to her."  
  
"Oh. Can you bring it over? I'm supposed to meet some friends later tonight, and then I'll   
be here at the shrine again pretty much all weekend for the festival. Or is it the kind of   
stuff that would be too embarrassing to let anyone else see?"  
  
"How about you come take a look? That way you can leave behind whatever looks like   
useless crap. If you want, I can give you a ride over right now and then run you back   
here. Whaddaya say?"  
  
Well, the ritual still wasn't for several more hours, and it would be a relief to warm up a   
little before then. Regardless of her devotion to Inari, she wished his priests were bigger   
fans of indoor heating. She yawned again, shivering. "Okay, sure. Just let me change   
back into my real clothes, and I'll be right out."  
  
Once inside his car, she gratefully accepted the hot cocoa he poured out from a thermos,   
including the extra marshmallows he put into her cup. As the road poured by, she leaned   
her head against the window with an increasing sense of vertigo. She felt nearly as dizzy   
as sleepy, and there was a funny taste in her mouth. The dance-party reject miko had been   
out last week with the stomach flu, and Megumi hoped she hadn't caught it from her. It   
would be bad enough to get the flu without also having to worry about being infected   
with a total lack of coordination as well.  
  
After a while, the man parked somewhere and walked around to open her door, but she   
couldn't even manage to unbuckle her seatbelt to get out. All she could do was lean out   
over the pavement and throw up, hoping as she passed out that she wasn't going to choke   
on it and die.  
  
---  
  
"Hey, I'm home." As she walked in, Kaoru waved to her mother, who was on the phone   
in the kitchen. Sano and Kenshin followed her into the tv room, where an orange-  
powdered bowl on the sofa showed that Yahiko had already come and gone. His bookbag   
wasn't on the stairs, so he'd already taken it upstairs to start on his own homework.   
  
"Your mom's not at the Akabeko today?" Sano looked dejected at missing even the   
remote prospect of restaurant leftovers in a few hours' time.  
  
"She's shifted down to part time," Kaoru said, spilling her own textbooks out onto the   
floor. "Ever since Hiko handed her that check, she's been saying that she doesn't   
understand why he bothers librarianing if even her partial share of the raku gallery's   
profits is that good. Plus we're getting more money from the rent he's paying us for the   
place, plus he covered all of the renovation costs for Yumi's room himself, so Mom   
doesn't really need to work full hours anymore. But it's not like librarians earn such big   
bucks that he couldn't quit that if he wanted to, either."  
  
"Perhaps the library provides balance to his life." Kenshin sorted through his history   
folder for the material on next week's test. "After all, his other two pursuits are largely   
physical rather than intellectual, and they're much untidier as well."  
  
Having already licked up half of the cheesy poof residue from the bowl, Sano poked an   
orange nose back up out of it. "So why are you guys clearing out of the library for the   
shrine this time?"  
  
"Miss Megumi and Mr. Hiko thought that the library annex had limited potential for   
improvisation, and the ritual might be better explored at the shrine itself. If there are   
complications, she will be able to draw directly upon its resources."  
  
Kaoru peered into Sano's backpack and pried open his notebook. "Speaking of resources,   
did you even take any notes last month, or are you going to completely leech off us   
again?" The three of them settled down into a morass of historical detail for the next few   
minutes, until Joyce Summers emerged to greet them.  
  
"Welcome home, honey. Hello to you too, boys. I was just talking to Megumi's   
stepfather, Dr. Gensai. She asked him earlier to call here around now, to remind Kenshin   
to start walking to the shrine to meet her. I suppose you'll be helping her set up for this   
weekend's festival? Are both of you going with him too?"  
  
"I will, if that's okay," Kaoru said, ignoring Sano's rolled eyes. "Actually, do you think   
you can drop us off there? If we load my bicycle into the car, I can just ride back   
afterward. That way we'll have a little more study time here."  
  
"Not to mention time to have some dinner. What about you, Sanosuke?"  
  
"Dinner sounds good. Oh, the shrine? Nah, I'll just go straight home from here."  
  
"All right then," Joyce said, returning to the kitchen. She called back, "I'm afraid I'm in   
fridge-cleanout mode before the next grocery trip, so I hope random okonomiyaki will be   
fine for everyone." Without even looking, Kaoru tossed a tissue at Sano for wiping   
cheesy orange drool-sludge off his mouth.  
  
---  
  
Megumi sat up suddenly, disoriented. Through the uncurtained picture window in front of   
her, a streetlamp's beams shone into her eyes. Beyond it, reflections danced on the river's   
surface several stories below, bright sparks in the smoky grey of twilight. Other than the   
light streaming in from the window, the room around her was dark and nearly empty.   
Aside from the chair she was sitting in, the only things she could see in it were a little   
table next to her and the pale panels of a screen half-folded against one wall.   
  
After a while, she made out another chair on the far side of the table. It was in partial   
shadow, obscuring the details, but she could tell there was a man sitting in it, sipping tea.   
It wasn't the Yoshiwara's doorman, but someone she didn't recognize. Whoever it was,   
the way his hair stuck up in floppy points reminded her of Sano, though ghostly pale   
instead of brown. This guy had about the same lanky height, too. And like Sano, he was   
wearing a loose jacket that matched his pants, though instead of faded denim, his were   
made from some sort of roughly glossy fabric, maybe a thick nubby silk. The similarity   
made her relax a bit.  
  
However, when he broke from his casual slouch, his movement had far more controlled   
poise than Sano ever did, like a snow leopard compared to an alley tomcat. He leaned   
over to the teapot on the table and poured out a fresh cup for her. "Here you go, pet," he   
said. "You took ill, so I had you brought here to rest up. Hope you don't mind."  
  
"Uh, thanks," she said uncertainly. "I've really got to get back to the shrine soon, if that's   
okay?"  
  
"Never fear, I'd just like a word or two with you about our friend Yumi. All right?"  
  
"Is this about the stuff she left behind? Can I come back and get it over the weekend   
instead?"  
  
He chuckled pleasantly. "Don't you worry about that. We've just been wondering where   
she's gone to. Wouldn't mind having her come back. She didn't have any complaints   
about the conditions here, did she?"  
  
The tea tasted funny, too. Drat, she probably was coming down with the flu. If she didn't   
beg off shrine duty this weekend, she was going to end up infecting everyone at the   
festival, and that would be really unfestive for people to be barfing everywhere. "I think   
Yumi just wanted a different job."  
  
"Well, that's a shame. If she were to change her mind, we'd bump up her regular wages   
and all. Think you could tell her that for us, next time you see her?"  
  
"Okay, sure, but--"  
  
His grin flashed up in a way that made her nervous again. "She still in town, then? Or did   
she take off somewhere with another of her friends? At least I've heard tell you're not the   
only redhead she's been swanning about with, though the other one has longer hair, and   
darker. Anyone you know as well, by chance?"  
  
She accidentally splashed her fingers as the teacup twitched in her hand. Who was this   
guy, and why was he stalking Yumi? For that matter, when had he seen Yumi at all   
lately? Kenshin hardly ever left school, and Yumi hardly ever left the gallery, and   
Megumi couldn't think of any occasions at all when Yumi had been hanging around with   
herself or Kenshin outside either of those places. Well, tonight would be an exception,   
but it hadn't happened yet. Something made her hope it was still going to happen, instead   
of, well, something else.  
  
"Um. I was going to say, I don't really see Yumi that often any more, but I can let her   
know if it's that important. I guess when I get her new address, I can send a letter to her   
with the box of stuff. And I'm really sorry, but I don't think I know the guy you're talking   
about."  
  
He leaned back in his chair, still smiling. "I never said the other redhead was a bloke,   
now did I?"  
  
Everything seemed to go into slow motion now. She dropped her empty teacup, jumped   
up to look for the door, and felt an odd whoosh in her head that she remembered from   
trying to run up the staircase after giving blood. It meant that her circulation hadn't   
caught up to the rest of her body going uphill, and it was about to drag her down to its   
own level. Ground level. At least the carpet here was a lot softer than the school stairs,   
she thought as she fell onto it.  
  
Laboriously, she rolled onto her side, trying to spit carpet fuzz off her tongue. The guy   
hadn't moved at all. Even his teeth seemed to have the exact same amount of grin   
reflecting at her, just from a different angle. "So you do know him, then. Where are Yumi   
and Battousai now?"  
  
If he knew Kenshin was Battousai, this was getting bad really fast. Especially if he'd seen   
Yumi and Battousai together. "Are you Jineh?" She and Sano hadn't been able to get a   
good look at Jineh's face through that big weird hat they'd set on fire the night they   
scooped up Yumi, but at least that probably meant he hadn't seen them too clearly either.   
Not that it was likely to help her much right now. "Or are you just working for him?"  
  
His chuckle sounded the same as before, but didn't seem nearly as pleasant to her now.   
"You've got me dead to rights. It's a fair cop. You haven't answered my question yet,   
though. If I have to ask a few more times, I might get a bit testy. Where is Battousai?"  
  
"I don't know," she protested. "I don't know about any of this stuff."  
  
"You sure about that, sweet? Not even about Jineh?" After setting his cup down, he stood   
up and stretched, hands braced at his waist. They came forward as he knelt beside her,   
holding a black knife almost exactly like Yumi's. He tucked it into the V-neck of   
Megumi's sweater and pressed slightly, pricking her through the turtleneck she was   
wearing underneath. A tiny piece of yarn fluff floated up and away. It hung suspended in   
the beam of light from the streetlamp, like the single earring to his left of his shadowed   
face. "Funny thing, really. Sometimes people know more than they think they do.   
Remarkable, the level of detail what comes up when their memory's jogged just right."  
  
His jacket cuff did feel like silk as it brushed her cheek, as smooth and heavy as a trickle   
of blood. It's just a knife, Megumi told herself. Just an ordinary knife right now, even if it   
used to be some kind of snack dispenser like Yumi's was. His eyes aren't glowing   
Battousai gold, so whoever he is, he isn't in soulsuck mode, and it won't feel as horrible   
as Hiko and Kaoru said it does. But for all that, it still hurt enough in the regular way.  
  
---  
  
There were plenty of miko bustling around the shrine courtyard and setting up festival   
booths, but none of them was Megumi. Kaoru picked out one at random and asked her for   
help, but didn't get much at first. "Megumi? I haven't seen her for hours, not since we   
finished the kagura this afternoon."  
  
"But we were supposed to meet her here. You don't know where she is?"  
  
"I thought she went home, but I guess we can check the miko depot."  
  
"Oro?"  
  
The girl gave Kenshin a sidelong glance and giggled. "It's her nickname for our building.   
Over here," she said, and showed them in. "Well, that looks like her bookbag over there,   
but her clothes are gone, so she must've changed back into them. I can ask around if you   
want to wait here."  
  
"Okay," Kaoru said, and sat down. Kenshin continued to hover at the doorway, reluctant   
to enter this exclusive female preserve, but edged inside after a few minutes when she   
opened up Megumi's bag.  
  
"Miss Kaoru, do you think you ought to be going through Miss Megumi's belongings?   
One of the bicycles on the rack outside the gate looked very much like hers, so she ought   
to be still here at the shrine."  
  
"It might give us some idea of where she went or what she's planning. Maybe she's   
setting everything up somewhere else on the grounds and is going to come get us when   
she's done? Or maybe she thought she told us where to go, but forgot? Did she tell you   
any advance details for tonight?"  
  
"I don't believe so. That does look like her usual list of equipment and notes, however. Is   
there anything of interest?"  
  
Turning the notebook page over, Kaoru examined it from different angles. "This part   
looks like a map of what she wants the ritual space to look like, but I don't know where   
on the grounds it's supposed to be."  
  
"She seems to have written the Greek letter alpha all around it. Does that carry any   
significance to you?"  
  
"Is that what it is? I thought they were fish," she said at first, and then, "Oh, it must be   
near the koi pond. See, those are bridges and stepping stones, and that looks like one of   
those octagonal gazebo things on the island in the middle."  
  
"Too late," Kenshin murmured. "The gazebo catches you and eats you."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Oh, it's nothing of importance, really. Perhaps we ought to see whether that's where   
Miss Megumi has gone?"  
  
The other miko came back. "Oh, did you find out where she was?"  
  
"I'm afraid not. Have you had any greater success?"  
  
"Nope. She probably just went home and forgot to take her bag. Either that, or she's just   
planning to pick it back up tomorrow. Was she supposed to give something back to you?"   
She was eyeing the notebook they'd taken out.  
  
"Uh, yeah," Kaoru quickly said. "We're sharing notes for a test on Monday. If you do see   
her again tonight, could you tell her Kaoru and Kenshin stopped by to pick them up?"  
  
"Sure, I'll let her know."   
  
The miko closed up the building again and went back to the courtyard, leaving the two of   
them standing just outside the door. The moon had risen into view, slightly lopsided like   
a baroque pearl balanced on the rooftop. Kaoru looked down at the notebook again,   
peering at it in the silver light. "Well, I can hear splashing noises over that way, so that   
must be where the koi pond is. I guess we might as well go see if she's there?"  
  
"I suppose so," Kenshin said, and shyly took her hand in his.  
  
---  
  
Bound and gagged, the Yoshiwara's doorman glared up from the floor behind the folded   
screen. Tomoe was still sitting quietly in the corner behind his back, but pale streaks were   
shimmering down her face. Kneeling beside her, Enishi nudged away a teardrop with his   
thumb. "I'm sorry, sweetheart, I didn't mean to frighten you. But I wouldn't've had to do   
this if you hadn't made such a fuss, now would I? Besides, this yobbo hasn't done you any   
harm, has he? Doesn't look as if he's budged since I stowed him back here with you, at   
least. And I didn't hear a peep nor a scuffle from either of you all this time, so it must've   
been all right."   
  
As he loosened the first loop of crimson silk from around her mouth, she wouldn't look at   
him, but her eyes glowed with golden tiger-stripes in the indirect light. "Why were you   
hurting that girl?"  
  
He shrugged, intent on unwinding the rest of the undersash he'd tied her up with. "Why   
not? She should ought've just told me everything in the first place instead of playing coy,   
but at least she came to her senses and told me where to find Battousai before she went   
and passed out. Clever of him to hide out in a shrine, probably looking all meek and mild,   
dressed up like the prettiest little miko since you. Kamiya's daughter must be another   
miko with the two of them. So here's your tanto back." He stuffed the undersash into his   
pocket before rubbing the ligature marks from her wrists and laying the knife's hilt in one   
palm.  
  
She jerked away. "I don't want it."  
  
"Don't be silly, of course you do." Firmly, he wrapped his hand around hers to force it   
toward the man on the floor, who was craning over his shoulder to watch them. If   
anything, the doorman looked less frightened than Tomoe and far more furious, but he   
still couldn't move against the ropes around him, any more than she could fight off   
Enishi's strength.   
  
Tears were silently running down her face again, and her trembling only intensified when   
he kissed their salt warmth from her skin. "It's your own, it's part of you, like your own   
heart. Just as you're part of me, sweet dove, so of course you want it. You'll know soon   
enough how much you do." With every word, he forced the tanto closer toward the man.   
"Don't fight me, it's for your own good. You promised me you wouldn't hurt yourself any   
more, so stop making me hurt you. Just trust me and give it to him." With a last effort, he   
plunged the point into the man's throat.  
  
As the doorman died, Tomoe leaned down low over the knife, its blade buried in his neck   
and its hilt hidden in the curtain of her hair. Enishi smiled at her, releasing her hand at   
last. "You see now, love?"  
  
Her voice was low, almost choked. "Yes. I see."  
  
"All right then." He chucked her chin and stood up. "I'll just leave you to whatever girl   
talk you fancy with the little vixen out there. Or you can just polish her off for dessert   
without waking her up for an introduction, whichever you like. In the meantime, I'm off   
to see the lizard. Once I'm back, we'll be off to our new nest, and I've such a   
housewarming in mind for us when we get there."  
  
---  
  
Yumi leaned into the workshop behind the gallery. "Hey boss. Closing time. Since the   
kid didn't come by today either and tomorrow's the weekend already, can I take that big   
urn back out of the box of ghost poop?"  
  
Looking up from his potter's wheel, Hiko wiped a small glob of clay off his face by   
replacing it with a larger one. "It ought to be safe enough now from the depredations of   
Mr. Harris. As is true of the bento boxes Kenshin gave me earlier today. They're behind   
my coat on the rack, if you'd like one."  
  
"Coolness." She disappeared for some minutes, returning with an open bento box in her   
hands and a few stray foam peanuts in her hair. As usual, she'd set up her chair behind the   
counter to have a clear view of both the workshop and the public part of the gallery, and   
she sat there in front of the laptop to munch pickled ginger. After a while, she said, "This   
is good stuff. Still can't get used to the idea of Bats going domestic, but at least he can   
cook as well as he fights. Want some?"  
  
"I'm afraid this is a rather delicate juncture for this piece," Hiko said at first, but Yumi   
waved a slice in front of his face anyway. "Very well, if you would be so kind," he   
acquiesced, and let her pop it into his mouth. "How is the website coming along?"  
  
"Great. Dreamweaver rules. Want any more bells and whistles while I'm at it?"  
  
"I don't believe any New Age background music will be required, no."  
  
"Just try and get me to give you more ginger after that joke. How about an automated link   
to the eBay listings, or are you going to keep those up?"  
  
"We may as well. It's not a bad venue for advertisement, after all." He stopped the wheel,   
examined the vase closely, and shaped the mouth into stylized iris-petals before tracing   
the long blades of the leaves up along the body and setting it on a rack to dry. After   
washing his hands and wiping them on his smock, he leaned from the workshop doorway   
to the counter to examine Yumi's progress. He nodded approvingly, though with a faint   
asymmetry to the motion.  
  
"Looks like you've cramped up your neck again," she said, and kicked the chair out from   
under herself toward him. "Sit down and I'll uncramp it for you. Oh, you would start   
stealing my pickled ginger while I've got my hands full."  
  
"It's Kenshin's pickled ginger," he pointed out calmly. While it would affront his dignity   
to also adopt Kenshin's being-scritched cat-sprawl of bliss, he did allow himself a faint   
sigh of relief as Yumi massaged the cramp out. "And I'd say he simply substituted a small   
amount of plum wine for some of the mirin. I've done that myself on occasion."  
  
"Jeez. Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu, pottery, library science, and now cooking? Is there anything   
you haven't done?" There was a decidedly odd, though nearly subliminal undercurrent to   
her voice, as well as to the way she leaned closer against him.   
  
Her customary loose tendril of hair tumbled down the back of his neck, between her   
hands. He turned toward her with one eyebrow raised. "Quite a few. For example, I don't   
believe I'm likely to attempt your former line of work."  
  
"But the local Chippendales branch is always looking for new guys. You could do the   
whole Patrick Swayze gig with live nude pottery. The chicks would be throwing cash at   
you for a chance to play Demi Moore."  
  
If he hadn't known better from the conversational topic, much less from observing Kaoru   
around Kenshin, he might have mistaken Yumi's expression for wide-eyed innocence.   
Driven by analogy, he resisted an obscure urge to utter an oro. Gravely, he said, "Thank   
you for the suggestion, Miss Komagata. I shall keep it in mind for future reference. Now   
perhaps I ought to finish tidying up so I can leave you in peace for the evening." He stood   
up and away before she could do anything about it.   
  
When he glanced back through the doorway from the workshop a few minutes later, she'd   
returned to working at the laptop, her shoulders slumped in an almost disconsolate way.   
Perhaps he had been a trifle brusque with her. As a gesture of rapprochement, he said,   
"Incidentally, I've been wondering whether you had any interest in resuming your use of   
the naginata."  
  
"Oh. Hadn't thought about it," she said, not looking up from the keyboard. "Did you want   
me to start going out on patrol with the rest of you guys, or do you still think Jineh's still   
around somewhere? I guess he hasn't figured out yet that his sword is here, or he'd have   
come in already to get it back. But I don't really want to run into him if I don't have to."  
  
"That is rather the crux of the matter." Hiko swept up a last dustpan of spilled glaze   
powder. "As you are in residence here, you would be at direct risk if Jineh were to   
reclaim his sword. Conversely, however, you would also constitute the last line of   
defense against him. Are you already armed in some way?"  
  
"My old knife is still locked up, right? Don't know how much good it would do against   
him if he really wanted to get past me."  
  
"Well, it certainly won't do you much good locked away. I do apologize; I'd forgotten to   
return it to you after the late unpleasantness. Perhaps we can lash it onto a pole to form an   
impromptu naginata until I can obtain something better." He unfastened the head from   
the broom he'd been using, set the bundled straw onto the dustpan, and carried the bare   
broomstick out into the gallery.   
  
Yumi trooped behind him to help move the shelves away from the case that held her   
knife and the two black swords. While he searched his pockets for the key, she pressed   
her nose against the glass. "Hey," she said. "Was Megitsune-chan trying something new   
tonight?"  
  
"I believe so, yes. Why do you ask?"  
  
She pointed at Battousai's sword inside the case. Its tsuba now held only two gems, the   
amethyst and sapphire gleaming coolly below the kashira's ruby. Tomoe's topaz was   
gone.  
  
---  
  
Kneeling on one of the benches that lined the gazebo, Kaoru leaned over the railing to   
stare down into the surrounding pond. The water-lilies were all dormant this time of year,   
and when she tossed out a bit of mochi, its initial ripples of impact weren't echoed by the   
larger ones that usually followed from hungry fish. The koi must have gone to sleep too.   
She nibbled on the rest of the mochi ball herself, worried. She'd taken it from the box of   
Megumi's stuff they'd found under another one of the benches, but Megumi herself still   
hadn't showed up to join them.   
  
Kenshin was sitting beside her, arms and legs completely pulled up inside the tentlike   
expanse of one of Sano's old coats, an army-surplus parka with a hood several times the   
size of his head. "It's not like Miss Megumi to neglect her responsibilities in this way," he   
said unnecessarily.  
  
"I hope nothing's wrong," she said, and turned away from the water. A length of yarn was   
trailing out of his pocket, wriggling up into an emptily dangling coat sleeve. She poked at   
it. "What the heck are you doing?"  
  
"After shortening so many of Mr. Harris' former sweaters, I decided to unravel the   
leftover pieces to knit a scarf. I think it's nearly long enough for you now. Would you like   
to try it on?"  
  
"I thought you were going to make them into mittens for yourself. Or that's what you said   
when you wouldn't let me get any for you."  
  
"I didn't wish to impose another burden on you, Miss Kaoru."  
  
"But I have to go shopping for my own clothes anyway, and I've got more than enough   
allowance to cover that. And I don't know how much library aides earn, but it can't be   
enough for you to keep trying to pay me back for that kind of stuff by hiding money in   
my pockets when you think I won't notice. I bet you haven't tried that with Sano, or is   
that where all of your food from home ec was going last month?"  
  
"If memory serves, you said that now the weather's turned colder, the fishbone chain   
chills your neck when you go outside."  
  
"Oh, Kenshin. If it bothered me that much, I'd stop wearing it. " She tilted her head   
against his shoulder, with the silver fishbone pendant resting in the hollow of her throat.   
"As for you, I brought those gloves you sewed all those tiny silver rings onto for me, if   
you want to put those on. Your hands must be freezing."  
  
He shivered. "Miss Kaoru, your nose is rather cold as well."  
  
"So is your ear," she breathed into it. "That coat is probably big enough to keep both of us   
warm, though. Are you really done with the scarf?"  
  
"Close enough," he said. "I can show it to you, if you'd like." Unfolding his legs back off   
the bench, he shook one arm through its sleeve again to draw out the scarf for display. As   
he tugged, half-trapped, she ducked under the coat's hem and burrowed up inside it.   
  
Pressed against her face, his sweatered chest heaved up, warm and startled. "Hey," she   
said into it. "I'm stuck in here. Could you undo the top button?"  
  
With the one arm still inside the coat with her, he groped up blindly to steady her as he   
stood up, dumping her onto her feet. She sighed to herself, not terribly surprised. It had   
been worth the try at cuddling, at least. She was slightly more surprised when he kept   
holding onto her instead of letting her crawl back out. Once he finished pulling the scarf   
out from between them, a gap of cool moonlight opened up above her. She had a clear   
glimpse of his face for an instant, before the coat's opened neck dropped over her head.   
Tts hood engulfed them both as he pulled her back onto the bench. After that, there was   
only his warmth in the darkness, binding her close against him with a fiercely tender   
embrace and kisses that burned like pale fire.  
  
---  
  
There wasn't any more loose fuzz on the carpet underneath Megumi. It was matted and   
sticky, and it tasted like blood. She wanted to throw up again, but she didn't feel strong   
enough to do it. After a while, she'd been willing to say anything to make the pain stop.   
Her only consolation was that the guy with the knife hadn't asked her all the questions he   
could have. She remembered telling him where Kenshin was waiting for her tonight with   
Kaoru, but he hadn't asked anything else about Yumi, or Jineh's sword, or where Kenshin   
usually was when he wasn't at Inari's shrine. Before tonight, she'd hoped her patron kami   
might offer some protection to herself and Kaoru from Battousai, but if knife-guy could   
hurt a miko like this, there wasn't going to be much protection from him for Kenshin.  
  
A pair of tabi was standing in front of Megumi, visible just below the hem of a pale,   
narrow skirt. They were standing just outside the stained patch of carpet around her, as   
darkly red as Kenshin's hair in the harsh glare of the streetlight. "Megitsune-chan," a   
woman's soft voice said thoughtfully.   
  
There were stories about Inari as a white fox who turned into a woman, Megumi thought.   
Maybe she was safe now after all? She couldn't look up at the voice, though, because her   
own dried blood was sticking her to the floor. After a minute, the woman seemed to   
understand this, and bent to roll her over.  
  
The night outside was glaring through the window with two pale eyes, the streetlight and   
the moon behind it. And the woman kneeling at Megumi's side was lit with three golden   
flames, her eyes glowing as brightly as the jewel on the knife in her hand.  
  
-----  
  
gazebo: http://www.dreadgazebo.com/eric.html  
  
(Finally scraped Yumi off Hiko's leg, at least for now. Meanwhile, I already emailed   
shiraha, but in case anyone else was wondering, I guess the main Edodale project is a   
K/K fic in that their relationship is central to the story and no one else is getting lucky so   
far (down, Yumi!). I didn't plan for this chapter to be a cliffhanger, honest, but I had to   
cut it off somewhere, and this seemed to be the first good sort of stopping point at about   
the right length.  
  
However, there is still that unresolved question of whether FotN is going to tie in, and   
hence whether Enishi temporarily overtakes Kenshin wrt Kaoru (much to Jason's   
dismay). Not to mention the quasi-separate question of whether Kaoru really ought to be   
boffing anyone at her age, but maybe I'm just being overly squeamish. In any case,   
Kenshin per se is also likely to be much more punctilious than either Enishi or Battousai,   
but you know what they say about where nice guys end up....) 


	15. only with thine eyes

Both Watsuki Nobuhiro and Joss Whedon would be well within their rights to turn a fire   
hose on everyone in this chapter. Sheesh.  
  
  
Edodale  
By wombat  
  
Chapter 15  
  
  
  
As it fell over her from above, Kenshin's enormous coat hood completely enveloped   
Kaoru's face. It held the mingled warm scents of autumn leaves, woodsmoke, and the   
cinnamon/bitter-almond aura of his hair. She remembered Sano's complete disavowal of   
the garment once it reappeared a few weeks after donation, with the original olive-drab   
canvas completely relined by sashiko-quilted lattices of rose, violet, and blue over the   
inevitable fuschia background. The only colors she could see within its concealing   
darkness right now, though, were the fireworks exploding behind her closed eyelids.   
"Oooh. Kenshin?"  
  
"Ymmph?" He didn't stop kissing her neck, if what he was doing technically qualified as   
kissing: trailing slightly-parted lips across it, with the faintest drag of soft friction   
emphasized by his warm breath. She wriggled to get his attention, but it didn't have much   
effect. He paused in place to suck the fishbone pendant up into his mouth and then   
relinquished it back down again, hot and damp in the hollow of her throat.  
  
No wonder Hiko had been upset when he'd caught them like this before, except for her   
being buttoned inside Kenshin's coat now. If Kenshin really wanted to hurt her, she'd be   
completely helpless, with her wrists held flat against the gazebo bench and the rest of her   
body pinned down between his knees. But she never seemed to be able to stop herself   
from trying to tug his shirttail out, and everything was bound to go downhill from there.  
  
On second thought, the noise he'd made against her shoulder suggested that he'd rather   
liked that wriggle, despite his best intentions. She tried it again. He gasped and bit her.   
"Ow!"  
  
Instantly apologetic, he backed off a bit, nudging his head up against her chin. "I'm   
terribly sorry," he breathed. "Was there something you wanted to say?"  
  
"I was just thinking-- maybe you should take your hood off, so at least one of us can see   
if Megumi shows up after all."  
  
"Perhaps you're right," he said, but still didn't move. After a moment, he nosed down into   
her shirt and started to trace her clavicle with his tongue. She squirmed again, this time   
involuntarily. He seemed to have better control over his response now, lightly closing his   
teeth around the round outline of the bone. "Whllphm?" he asked, flicking his tongue   
across her skin.  
  
"Ooh... no, I'm serious. She'd be really embarrassed, and we shouldn't make her waste all   
the advance work she did for tonight."  
  
"I suppose not." His sigh was warm inside her collar. "Perhaps we ought to have waited   
until after the ritual after all. But as Mr. Harris says, 'Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first.'   
And your skin does taste very nice. Are you certain I should put the hood back if you're   
still cold?"   
  
A pleasant shiver had run through her at his previous remark. She shook her head. "I'm   
not cold. Or I won't be if you untie your hair. I'd be able to see the moon through it, too."  
  
He lifted the edge of the hood and peered up. "No, I'm afraid you wouldn't. It's directly   
above the gazebo roof now." She took advantage of his lapse of attention to lunge up and   
plant some suction on his own exposed neck. The result bore some resemblance to his   
being-scritched posture, except with louder breathing. In fact, he went limp enough for   
her to flip him over onto his back. Weakly, he protested, "You promised, you know."  
  
"I know. But if you get to do this to me, I should get to do this to you. Like you always   
say, all I'm doing is kissing your neck, and that shouldn't cause any problems with   
anyone." She was pretty sure he was enjoying this more than he wanted to, because he   
was trying very hard not to move. When she licked the fine crease between the top of his   
neck and the underside of his chin, it felt like he started to try very hard not to breathe,   
too.   
  
In strangled bursts, he said, "You're perfectly right. I see now that it was very, very   
wrong of me to do this to you, and I'll never do it again. So I think you ought to stop."  
  
"But that's not a very good reason for me to stop, is it?" She sucked the crease into her   
lips and nipped it. His entire body jerked, and a fine salt dew cropped up against her face.   
  
"Oro!" His hands bit into her waist. "Very well, I'll never do this to you again unless you   
stop right now? Is that better?"  
  
"No, that's still pretty unfair," she said, through the delicate grip of her teeth. "Besides,   
you taste nice, too, kind of like okonomiyaki. Oof!" He'd hooked one leg over the edge of   
the bench, and flipped both of them onto the ground below it. At least his hood had ended   
up behind his back this time. Moonlit reflections from the pond were pouring all around   
them in bright waves. "Pretty stars," she noted giddily.  
  
He glanced over his shoulder to see what she meant. "But Miss Kaoru, that's just the   
inside of the roof."  
  
"Not there. The water's reflecting into your eyes all sparkly."  
  
"Oh. All right then," he said, and kissed her lids shut again.  
  
---  
  
Outside the shrine, Enishi sat in his parked car. The little vixen had said Battousai and the   
Kamiya girl would only stay there for a few hours. But if he waited for them to come out   
on their own, they'd know Megumi had completely missed their rendezvous and would   
be on their guard. So he'd have to go in after them first. In the meantime, though, there   
wasn't any need to crowd the playing field with extra obstacles running about. A gaggle   
of miko was still loitering around the entrance, slowly drifting apart toward footpaths,   
bicycles, or the other cars around him in the lot.  
  
When the last extra miko had gone away, Enishi pulled his watou out of the back seat. He   
didn't bother strapping its harness on this time, merely toting the sheathed sword over his   
shoulder by the long silk cord that hung from the hilt. Twirling the tassels at the end, he   
strolled toward the gap in the shrine walls and the red stylized arch that stood over it. Just   
his luck this would have to be one of Inari's shrines. If there were just one or two torii as   
in most other sorts of shrine, he might've taken his chances and run for it. But here was a   
whole forest of the bloody things lining the entire main walkway through the grounds,   
and that could get ticklish. Still, if Battousai could get in somehow, so could he.  
  
Experimentally, he ducked his head under the first torii. His hair rose up on end even   
more than usual, with a dangerous crackle and the ozone scent of static electricity. Before   
sparks could start flying, he ducked back out to make rude gestures at the fox statues that   
guarded the support posts. This was going to be a bit of a puzzle. He liked puzzles.  
  
His glasses' new photochromic lenses provided an unobstructed view of the hillside.   
Spaced several yards apart, the arcade of torii curved their way up like a dragon's spine,   
lightly scaled with silver by the gibbous moon above. Their crossbars were three or four   
times his height, and he doubted they'd take kindly to him clambering up their sides. He   
didn't remember this particular shrine, but whoever built these high walls had known   
about him and the others. Even at arm's length, he could sense the fir needles and salt   
baked into the bricks, as well the protective ofuda laid into the mortar that had been   
mixed with rice and sake. Not a chance he could climb up those, either. So how had   
Battousai wangled his way in? Crawled through some rathole like Jineh? Found a tree   
whose branches reached over the wall?  
  
Abruptly, Enishi got tired of this and sauntered away. Halfway to his car, he turned and   
took a running leap back toward the torii. Vaulting onto the top with his watou, he kept   
its tassels firmly in hand and swung it up on its cord to join him. As he landed on the   
crossbar, he slung the sword back over his shoulder like a cat balancing itself with its tail.   
There were no ill effects to his feet at all, not even the vague twingy itch of a pinched   
nerve. He leaped forward to the second torii, counterbalanced again, gauged the distance   
to the next, and so onward.   
  
The least they could've done was space the torii evenly, but then again, it was more of a   
challenge this way. If he had to, he could probably drop down between them or just jump   
straight off to the side. But if Battousai really didn't have his sword with him, as the little   
vixen had claimed, this was going to be the most real fun Enishi was going to have   
tonight. Tomorrow would be a different story, after he'd trussed up the brat and dragged   
him back to Tomoe so she could see just how pitiful he was. And then there would be the   
days and years ahead in their new home, an eternity of deathless pain for Battousai and   
bliss with Tomoe, and her sad face would smile beneath his kisses at last.  
  
---  
  
Judging from the strands left unspotted by drying blood, the girl's hair really was the   
bright tawny shade of a fox's pelt. But the other half of Enishi's nickname for her must   
have been only in comparison to his own height. As far Tomoe could judge from the   
crumpled misery on the floor in front of her, the girl was almost exactly her own height   
and build, though in much worse condition: poised on the twilight edge of consciousness,   
able to feel and voice fresh pain but not to fight it off.   
  
Enishi's half-finished cup sat on the table nearby, along with a few things he'd dumped   
out of his pockets before leaving: a hip flask, a bracelet of semiprecious beads that he   
used as worry stones, and some candy. Tomoe took the cup, left her tanto in its place, and   
dipped her handkerchief into the tepid tea to wipe the girl's face clean. It was impossible   
to see the color of her eyes within their frame of cuts and bruises; terror and exhaustion   
had dilated her pupils until the irises were hollow rings of frayed thread, like the sound of   
her voice. "Um, hi. I think I should know who you are, or at least I might know if I could   
think right now. But maybe you're not who I would've thought you were anyway. I'm   
sorry, I'm not making any sense, am I?"  
  
"Take care of the sense, and the sensibilities will take care of themselves. My name is   
Tomoe. Yukishiro Tomoe. I'm very pleased to meet you."  
  
"At least one of us is. Oh gosh, I'm not normally this rude, but I'm really not at my best   
right now. My name's Megumi. Megumi Rosenberg?" It sounded like a question,   
pleading to not be herself any more. "Is that his knife again, or yours? I don't remember   
the yellow stone from before."  
  
"It's the very same tanto that he borrowed from me. The topaz came back to it after he'd   
finished with you for the evening. Do you like it?"  
  
"Did I do that?" She stared up at Tomoe. "Does that mean I'm going to die?"  
  
"We all die. I've done it several times myself, you know."  
  
"Did it hurt very much?" Megumi's voice was trembling and fading, like ripples at the   
edge of a pool. "I don't think I can hurt any more than this. But then again, I thought that   
about five minutes after he started, and I was already wrong then."  
  
"It's very peaceful, really. Almost like taking a nap, except for the waking up." Tomoe   
squeezed the reddened handkerchief back into the cup and moistened it again with clean   
tea from the pot. "I didn't mean to pry, but I couldn't help overhearing some of your little   
chat earlier."  
  
"Just the screaming part, or some of the actual words part? I think the screaming was a lot   
louder, because even my ears are still ringing. Unless that's just left over from when he   
hit me."  
  
"Hush a bye, little vixen, and I'll clean up you and your rags. Just lie still a bit and rest   
while he's away."  
  
A note of hope crept into her voice. "Really? Where did he go?"  
  
"Hush, I said." The last smears of blood wiped away from Megumi's skin, except for a   
long cut stubbornly seeping down one cheek. After one last rinse with tea, Tomoe helped   
her sit up. "Is it really the fashion now to wear bits of string? Can you put it on by rolling   
about in it like a kitten?"  
  
Woozily, Megumi looked down at her torso. "Oh yuck, my nose bled all over my   
sweater. Or what's left of it. Or was that from my nose?"  
  
"Here, take the teapot into the corner to finish washing up. You can put on the nightgown   
back there instead. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain."  
  
"I thought you said he'd gone away." She sounded fearful again.  
  
"He has, after a fashion. Oh, you mean my baby brother? Why, he's gone where you told   
him, where Kenshin's been waiting for you all this time with a girl at his belt instead of a   
sword. But let's change you now, why don't we?"   
  
---  
  
Yumi tugged at the impromptu naginata, testing her knife's attachment point to the   
broomstick despite the limited space in Hiko's car. The black blade swung dangerously   
close to him as they sped around a corner. She kicked the box between her feet upright   
again, catching most of the crossbow bolts and fishbones before they rolled under her   
seat. "I don't know what's up with Tomoe right now, but you guys need more and better   
backup weapons. Any idea what they've already got with them?"  
  
"Certainly not Battousai's sword." Hiko grimaced as they whipped past a slow-moving   
sedan. "At most, Miss Kamiya-Summers may have brought her bokken, though I don't   
believe she has a spool of silver wire with which to wrap it. Kenshin has wire and tools in   
his quarters at school, but I doubt he would have brought them here. We had best hope   
Miss Rosenberg's usual prowess will be aided by the shrine precincts."  
  
"Yeesh." She hung onto the window frame as they rounded the last curve toward the   
shrine parking lot. "If you're still using perfect grammar while driving this fast, you've   
either had too much sake or not enough. Looks like everyone else cleared out already--   
just a couple of bicycles and one car." They pulled up next to it, and Hiko tossed his keys   
to Yumi so she could open the trunk while he inspected the other vehicle. She fetched out   
the crossbow and his sword, the latter already encased in its own silver coil, but tossed   
the broomstick back in.  
  
"You've abandoned the naginata?"  
  
"It wasn't much of one. The duct tape won't hold firm. I'll just bring the knife as is." She   
waved it at him.  
  
He straightened up from the tinted glass. "Even the windows are still warm. Its owner   
must have arrived shortly before we did."  
  
"I don't think Tomoe can drive, so Enishi's probably still carting her around. So if they're   
here, that car's his. Want me to slash the tires?"  
  
While he had never made a study of how quickly women could dress or undress, he'd   
been discreetly amazed at the speed at which she'd completely stripped away her linen-  
suited demureness, albeit mercifully concealed from him in the privacy of her own room.   
It nearly inspired an image of her holding her knife in the air with a cry of "Leather-clad   
biker-chick power, make up!" Nearly, but not quite.   
  
"We should be doing a grave disservice to its owners if we're mistaken. If we circle the   
edge of the lot, perhaps we can spot footprints in the dew and track them. Do you have   
everything?"  
  
"The box is still under the dashboard," she said, carrying the weapons up to the front of   
the car. "Got your gloves?"  
  
"Yes, they're in my pocket." He turned toward the new set of headlights turning toward   
them from the main road. The motion instantly blurred into a leap over his car's hood.   
When he landed, he smacked the chainmail gauntlets into her hands and took the   
crossbow from her. "Go on ahead. I'll join you presently."  
  
By the time he'd opened the door and fitted a bolt into the crossbow, Yumi's shadow was   
disappearing under the first of the torii winding up the hill. He narrowed his eyes toward   
the approaching lights as he pulled the firing lever back. She was right, they did need a   
wider array of weapons. If he had to face two opponents, he might have time to reload   
after his first shot. Then again, he might not. The car slowed as it approached him, then   
turned to park in the next aisle over, where the driver's window rolled down.  
  
Joyce Summers' greeting sounded warier than usual. "Hello, Rupert. Planning to help   
with the yabusame at the opening ceremonies tomorrow?"  
  
Guiltily, Hiko lowered the crossbow. "Something of the sort. To what do I owe the   
pleasure of your company?"  
  
"Oh, I'm here to pick up Kaoru. She was supposed to bike home, but she must've lost   
track of time while helping Megumi. Are you here to pick up Kenshin?"  
  
"In a manner of speaking." He leaned into his own car again to leave the crossbow on   
Yumi's seat, but turned around with it still in his hands when he heard Joyce's door open   
and close. "Are you going into the shrine?"  
  
"Well, yes. We might as well get a sneak peek at the festival decorations, don't you   
think?"  
  
"Er." Quickly, he hooked the disarmed crossbow over his belt and stuffed the bolt into a   
coat pocket, leaving the car seat empty. "Actually, this seems an opportune time to take   
up a different matter, if you have a moment. While I was rearranging the back room of   
your dojo into a potter's workshop, I found an object left beneath a loose floor tile. It   
must be your property. I considered asking Kaoru to bring it to you, but that didn't seem   
quite appropriate."  
  
Successfully diverted away from the shrine, Joyce peered into his glove compartment as   
he rummaged around in it. "My goodness. I don't recall ever losing anything back there.   
It used to be the men's locker room, after all."  
  
"Indeed so. I'll let you decide for yourself, in any case." After locating the scrap of silk,   
he relinquished it to her along with the passenger's seat. The soft gauze held a fist-sized   
box, which opened to reveal an elaborate origami flower. "A Kawasaki rose, I believe. If   
I'm not mistaken, it was wet-folded from washi, allowed to dry, and then lightly sprayed   
with perfume to add scent and make the paper translucent. There appears to be something   
inside it, but I thought I'd best leave that alone."  
  
Beneath the interior light of the car, the rose glowed like the moon behind a cloud.   
Reluctantly, Joyce unfolded it, destroying the pearly symmetry. At its heart lay a sapphire   
ring in a nest of finely written script. "Oh, Koshijirou...." Blinking away the threat of   
tears, she smiled up at Hiko. "When he proposed, he hid the engagement ring inside a   
blue paper rose instead. This year's wedding anniversary would've been the same number   
as the age when we first met. He must've been saving this for my birthday, the week   
after--"  
  
"I didn't mean to grieve you, Ms. Summers. Please, you don't owe me any explanations."   
Hiko had already averted his eyes from the haiku written on the paper, not because of any   
unseemliness in its wording, but because he felt like an interloper for even glancing at its   
depth of emotion. "Would you like me to go in and fetch Kaoru while you compose   
yourself?"  
  
"That would be very kind of you, but really, I shouldn't impose--"  
  
"No imposition at all," he demurred. "After all, as you said, I need to go fetch out   
Kenshin anyway."  
  
"Well, we can both go in together, then." Surreptitiously wiping her eyes, Joyce slipped   
the ring onto her hand and straightened up, gently closing Hiko's door behind her. "Let's   
go see what our kids are up to, why don't we?"  
  
---  
  
Around the bend from the parking lot, Enishi cocked his head at the stairs beneath him.   
He was about two-thirds of the way up the hill, and a set of curves in black leather had   
just passed below. Could that be...? No. Yes? He'd never agreed with Jineh that Battousai   
must've killed Yumi, and couldn't much blame her for running away. But if it was Yumi,   
what was she doing here? For that matter, how was she getting through the torii?  
  
The runner emerged from the far end and headed across the courtyard, dodging around   
garlands and booths. It had to be Yumi. And she was carrying a sword-- not Battousai's,   
because the blade reflected the moonlight brightly instead of drinking it down into night-  
black. Some sort of protective talisman? He'd have to ask her about that, once he caught   
up with her.  
  
After crossing half of the remaining torii, he peered further into the grounds in search of   
Yumi or Battousai. There was the liquid shimmer of water through the trees, faintly   
echoing with something he might've mistaken for birdsong if not for the time and season.   
He listened closely, and grinned. Even after this long, he would've known that sound   
anywhere: the distinctive muffled cries of some girl Battousai was having his way with.   
No wonder Yumi had been in such a hurry. Enishi sped up his own pace, loping easily   
from one crossbar to the next toward the skeletal shadow of the gazebo.  
  
---  
  
Kenshin's coat was unbuttoned all the way down now, and so was Kaoru's. It wouldn't be   
exactly accurate to say she'd never dreamed he would ever do anything like this, but she   
hadn't realistically expected it. Technically, they were still within the boundaries he'd set   
up before, in that none of their clothing was out of order except for their coats, which   
didn't really count. But technicalities seemed a bit beside the point at the moment.   
  
For example, while her hands weren't actually tied together, they might as well have   
been, considering how thoroughly he'd wrapped them for warmth in the scarf that he'd   
been knitting. The two of them were up on the gazebo bench again, where the entire   
length of his body lay pressed closely over her, warm and tense and writhingly alive. One   
of his own hands was clamped over her mouth, constraining her sound and movement as   
his hair slid across her face like a shroud of burning silk. She suspected she'd just bitten   
him, but wasn't really sure. He hadn't made any sort of "hey, you bit me" protest, but then   
neither of them had said anything useful for a while now. Not that she could anyway, but   
he'd even stopped asking her whether she liked whatever he was doing. But it was   
probably pretty obvious.  
  
Her fishbone pendant had fallen out of its holding loop some time ago, and now the entire   
chain finished unwinding itself and tumbled down behind her neck. Afraid of losing the   
necklace, she deliberately bit him harder to get his attention. He merely bit her in return,   
plunging white lightning all the way down her spine. Ironically, it was her answering   
scream that made him stop. "I'm sorry," he panted into her shoulder. "Did I hurt you?"  
  
"Nmph," she mumbled, but kicked his ankle when he started to settle back into place.   
Belatedly, he took his hand off her mouth to let her speak clearly. "My fishbone fell off.   
Help me find it?"  
  
"Can't it wait?" His face was hidden by his hood's shadow again, but she already knew   
the expression that went with that tone of voice: wide-eyed and desperate, poised on the   
knife-edge of anguish. Every other time, though, he'd been pleading with her to stop   
pushing him, not the complete reverse that was happening now. She really didn't want   
him to stop yet, but she didn't want her necklace to fall into the pond, either.   
  
"It should only take a minute. Help me unwind this?" The scarf was still wrapping her   
hands firmly together, despite her best efforts from inside it.  
  
A reluctant sigh escaped him, but he sat back on his knees and pulled her half-upright. As   
he began to feel around the knitted bundle for the end of the scarf, Kaoru made the   
strategic error of resting her head against his shoulder and kissing his ear. His search   
quickly began to wander off track, until he'd drawn her up into his lap for even more   
insistent kisses. Eventually, the loosened scarf fell between them, utterly forgotten.  
  
"Whoa!" Yumi's voice interrupted them from just outside the gazebo, a while later.   
"Where's Megumi?"  
  
Okay, since the gazebo hadn't spontaneously combusted yet from their kissing, Kaoru's   
blush wasn't going to do it either, but that wasn't much comfort to her. "We don't know.   
She never showed up. What time is it?"  
  
Kenshin shook his hood back, letting the lanterns behind Yumi fleck his eyes with golden   
light again. "And if I might ask, what are you doing here?"  
  
"I think that's my line," Yumi said. She leaned over the railing and rested the end of   
Hiko's silver-wrapped katana on their bench. "Look, it's none of my business, but jeez,   
can you knock it off for a bit?. From the looks of your sword back in the gallery, we think   
Tomoe's on the loose. And whaddaya mean, Megumi never showed up? We thought her   
new ritual must've been what set Tomoe off, but if that's not it, then something's getting   
really screwy around here. Well, something else."  
  
It was a good thing Kaoru's necklace had already fallen off. The way her blush was   
heating up even more, the silver might've melted by now. She untangled her limbs so she   
could crawl under the bench to rummage through the leaves on the gazebo floor. The   
conversation continued above her. "Tomoe, but no one else? That's odd."  
  
"Well, no one else by the time we headed out, but I saw Enishi climbing his way up here   
on top of the torii, and he's got his watou with him. Even if he hasn't already poked   
Tomoe with it to recover his own powers, he's going to be trouble. And I didn't see   
Tomoe anywhere, so she could already be on the grounds. Not only that, but someone   
else drove up to join the party when Hiko sent me in ahead. So I don't know if you two   
would rather get out of here or stay put, but this is not a good time to be getting in touch   
with your inner Viagra bunnies."  
  
"Did you bring any weapons?"  
  
"Hiko's got the crossbow and some fishbones back in the car, but it might take him a   
while to bring them up. I've got his sword and gloves, and my old knife. How about   
you?"  
  
"A circular knitting needle," Kenshin said flatly. "And Miss Kaoru's gloves. Other than   
those, the box beneath that bench contains Miss Megumi's usual ritual materials, and the   
booths in the courtyard will be well-stocked with ofuda. However, none of these will do   
much good against Enishi's watou."  
  
Kaoru emerged from under the bench with the silver chain trailing from the fishbone in   
her hand. "Will this help? And what's a watou?"  
  
"It's a big-ass sword. Dunno how Enishi settled on the design, but it's got a straight hilt   
and a katana blade that's about this long." Yumi stretched out her arms all the way across.   
"Hiko has the reach to fight hand-to-hand with him, but damn, I wish he'd given me the   
crossbow instead of his sword. So come on already. Stay or go?"  
  
Standing up, Kenshin took the sword from Yumi. "If Enishi's here, he's here for me. Take   
Miss Kaoru outside, if you'd be so kind."  
  
"No!" Kaoru protested. "I can help you fight him. I know I can."  
  
"You know how to fight me, but you don't know Enishi. Yumi?"  
  
Yumi folded her arms. "If she wants to stay, I'm not making her leave."  
  
Kenshin sighed. "May I borrow your gloves?" As Kaoru put her hands into her coat   
pockets to pull them out, he leapt for the scarf and tied her arms together, then dragged   
her out of the gazebo.  
  
"Hey!" As Kaoru stumbled sideways, protesting furiously, Yumi calmly strolled along   
behind them. Despite what she'd just said, it didn't look like she meant to interfere with   
what Kenshin was doing.  
  
"I'm terribly sorry, Miss Kaoru, but I believe this is best for everyone concerned."  
  
"Well, I'm definitely concerned, and I don't agree! What makes you think you get to   
decide for both of us?"  
  
They were almost all the way back to the main courtyard now. He stopped, untied the   
scarf, and gently turned her to face him. "Because if Enishi kills me, I'll get over it. The   
same is certainly not true in your case. If anything were to happen to you...."  
  
Kaoru had the impression from her peripheral vision that Yumi was in the same forced   
nonchalance of "I am definitely not looking at this because it isn't happening anyway"   
that Kaoru herself had once been stuck in before, back whenYumi had been reunited with   
Battousai. Between Kenshin's pleas and Yumi's discomfort, Kaoru wavered, still on the   
edge of rebelliousness.  
  
"Well, here he comes," Yumi said, eyes fixed on the entrance. Kaoru looked beyond   
Kenshin to see a tall, lithe silhouette bounding up to the crest of the hill atop the torii   
crossbars. "Better make up your mind fast."  
  
"Uh, is that his watou behind him?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
"When you said it was a big-ass sword, you didn't say that its total net assitude would   
make Anna Nicole Smith look anorexic. Here, take my gloves-- and you never know,   
maybe my necklace will come in handy too." Somewhat guiltily, she handed those things   
to Kenshin, who gave her one last kiss for good measure. Its intensity more than made up   
for its brief duration, and when it ended, she ran for the stairs on wobbly knees. She   
barely made it into the protective shadow of the torii as Enishi leaped down into the   
courtyard behind her.  
  
---  
  
Hiko wasn't sure whether Joyce was more amused or concerned, and he didn't care   
which, as long as his ploy was working. "I wouldn't've thought that you, of all people,   
would get so winded from just a long set of stairs like this. Really, Rupert, have you had   
your blood pressure checked recently?"  
  
He attempted to smile, hobbling upward as slowly as plausible. "Oh, nothing to worry   
about. It's just the autumn chill getting into my joints a bit. As they say, be kind to your   
knees; you'll miss them when they're gone."  
  
"Oh dear. Would it help to lean on me?" Without waiting for his reply, she ducked under   
his arm, tugging on his wrist as an anchor. "Warm baths are supposed to be really good   
for getting the aches out. The dojo's jacuzzi is probably in Yumi's room now, if you didn't   
remove it during remodelling, but I'm sure she wouldn't mind if you used it."  
  
"You are likely correct in all regards mentioned." Oh dear indeed. Whether it was from   
her late husband's origami flower or from her own habitual perfume, the faint scent of   
roses hung in her hair like the memory of midsummer warmth. In his circle of   
acquaintance, most of the women he knew, like most of the men, were essentially   
students or rivals, or sometimes both. Joyce was neither, and her shoulders lacked the   
lean muscle of a potter or a martial artist, or the chalkboard stoop of a teacher. But like   
Kaoru, she had an inner determination to save people from themselves, no matter what.   
He felt a rare pang of sympathy for Kenshin and Sano. These Summers women certainly   
had a way of getting under your skin, whether they meant to or not. And in Kenshin's   
case, there was no question that Kaoru meant to.  
  
After a few more laborious minutes uphill, she patted his arm. "I think we could both use   
a rest, as long as there's a bench at this landing. Why don't we sit down?" He sat. "As   
long as we're both here, I was wondering-- is there anything I should know about   
Kenshin that Kaoru hasn't told me?"  
  
He summoned every atom of serene Zen librarianship he could muster to channel the   
now-essence of blank helpfulness, though his facial expression was largely lost in the   
lattice of shadows. "What sort of information would you like?"  
  
She sighed. "Oh, I don't know. He's really such a nice boy, but he seems so sad   
sometimes. I've still never met his foster parents; you always seem to be the one driving   
him around and looking out for him instead. Did you know his family?"  
  
"In a manner of speaking. I believe we're distantly related, though I couldn't specify the   
exact degree offhand. But I suppose it's more salient that he was once a student at my   
school back in Okusofodo, though I'd never taught him directly. And so I feel a certain   
sense of responsibility for him now that we're both here in Edodale."  
  
"That's very sweet of you. Was that where both of you met Yumi?"  
  
"No, I'm afraid that I did not make Miss Komagata's acquaintance until very recently."  
  
"I still haven't met her at all," Joyce said thoughtfully. "Is she very much like Kenshin? I   
wonder if she'd be interested in babysitting Yahiko every so often."  
  
Good heavens, no. "I could ask her. But no, she and Kenshin are not terribly alike. She's   
quite... vivacious, you might say."  
  
"He is awfully quiet most of the time. Kaoru is always so worried about him, you know."  
  
Somehow, Hiko thought, he had failed to grasp that side of the dynamic. He had   
discounted Kenshin's claims of trying to comfort Kaoru for the loss of her father, but the   
excuse had always had a certain plausibility. And in that case, it was equally plausible   
that Kaoru herself might be trying to comfort Kenshin for the loss of his own self to an   
alien bloodlust that had gripped him for ten years and uncounted lives, and from which   
there was no ultimate safe haven until his true death.   
  
On the other hand, perhaps this was simply an overly altruistic justification for adolescent   
hormones-- which could potentially present as much of a hazard up there in the shrine as   
Yukishiro Tomoe having returned to her role as Battousai's first consort, and doubly so if   
the two circumstances were to overlap somehow. But he could not possibly lead Joyce   
Summers toward whatever was waiting up there, and which had prevented Yumi from   
returning.  
  
Joyce was breathing into her palms to warm them, absently rubbing the sapphire ring   
with her other hand. "Well," she said, "you sound like your knees have gotten over   
themselves for now. What do you say we get to the top of the stairs and plant a flag?"  
  
Just as he opened his mouth for a futile protest, someone came pelting down the stairs,   
nearly knocking Joyce over. It was not Yumi. Hiko's crossbow was rearmed and cocked   
by the time the figure on the ground staggered back up. "Ow! Mom? What're you doing   
here?" Hiko whisked the crossbow onto the bench behind him.  
  
"Kaoru, good grief, what're you doing running around like that? If the stairs were icy, you   
could've broken your neck. I came to pick you up, of course."  
  
"Oh yeah. I'm sorry, I forgot how late it was getting, but now that I know, I'm really tired   
and I'd like to go home and sleep now. Okay?"  
  
"Did Miss Komagata find you?"  
  
"You didn't tell me Yumi was here. I'd love to dash up and meet her."  
  
"Mom, I'm really, really, really sleepy, and I promised everyone I'd come back first thing   
tomorrow morning. So you can meet her then." Kaoru had already started to tug her   
mother back toward the parking lot. She called over her shoulder, "Mr. Hiko, Yumi's still   
up there with Kenshin. And someone else I haven't really met. They could really use your   
help around now. Good night!"  
  
"Oh, Kaoru, really--!"  
  
Hiko smiled ruefully as they disappeared around the bend. He murmured, "Good night,   
sweet ladies; good night, good night."  
  
---  
  
Megumi returned from the corner wearing Tomoe's nightgown and carrying the empty   
teapot. She felt a little better now, though that didn't really say much. The linen clung   
translucently to the residual dampness on her skin, but covered her more than the clotted   
shreds of chenille and denim had before. She slumped back into her original chair, in   
front of the stain on the rug. "Sorry about the huge mess I'm making of your place. Is he   
really your brother?"  
  
"All his life, so far." Tomoe had been dipping her knife into the teacup from before, but   
set them both aside as she rose from the other chair into the streetlamp's beam.  
  
"So that means he's Enishi, not Jineh, right? Or are all three of you still working   
together?"  
  
"He's whoever he wants to be. Maybe someday he won't be himself any more. Are you   
thirsty?"  
  
Megumi glanced nervously at the table between them. The only thing on it that looked   
even remotely like a beverage was Enishi's cup, whose contents she really didn't want to   
think about at this point. The streetlamp gave it a weird glow, too. "Uh, no."  
  
"I am. And you're still bleeding, little vixen." Tomoe turned away from the window. A   
narrow line shone through the loosely flowing shadow of her dark hair.  
  
"So are you," Megumi realized, just as another bright streak leaped up into view.  
  
Holding her by the throat, Tomoe slashed her cheek with the hairpin, across the grain of   
the previous cut. The silver tip and mother-of-pearl flowers, as pale as the rest of   
Megumi's face, bloomed rose-red when overpainted with her blood. As if it were a   
freshly inked brush, Tomoe used it to write on the linen nightgown from neck to navel,   
straight down the row of buttons. She completed the last stroke and stood back. Megumi   
half-lay in the chair, unable to consciously move anything except for her eyes. The kanji   
heaved with her frantic heartbeat.  
  
"It's time to finish changing you now. You don't want to be you. I don't want to be me. I   
thought maybe we could be each other instead, but that wouldn't help our little dragon out   
there in the night. So we need to be him as well."   
  
As Megumi watched uncomprehendingly, Tomoe opened the hip flask and poured its   
contents across the hairpin's bloody tip, spilling out the pungent scent of sake. When the   
flask was empty, she stirred the cup with the hairpin, swirling up bubbles that glowed like   
drowning fireflies.  
  
When she relinquished the flask for the knife, Megumi flinched away, but Tomoe simply   
picked up the bracelet as well and cut the string. Its beads scattered across the table, each   
one different from the next: turquoise and lapis lazuli, amethyst and jade. She tucked the   
knife into her sash and picked through the beads until she'd found one each of garnet,   
citrine, and amber, and added them to the cup as well before raising it to Megumi's   
mouth. She held the hairpin to the side as if helping a child drink from a mug with a   
spoon still in it. "Here, have a little taste," she coaxed. It tasted the way Megumi would've   
expected it to taste, if she'd ever had to think about a mixture of tea, blood, and sake   
before: salty and astringently metallic, with a heart of flame.  
  
After sipping it herself, Tomoe set the cup back onto the table amid the discarded beads,   
but kept hold of the hairpin. She used it to complete the cross-wound on her own   
cheekbone, not even grimacing as the sharp tip tore through her flesh. A pale blue flame   
danced around the silver, causing the carved rosewood shaft to blacken and glow.   
Quickly, she lowered her knife's tip into the cup once more, holding the burning hairpin   
aloft.   
  
"Silver as pure as the sun's mirror, touched with rice. Jewels as bright as the moon,   
touched with water. A blade as dark as night, touched with salt. Ancient blood of the   
sacred fir, new-kindled flame born from a wooden shaft, pure spirit of the harvest-- by all   
these things I ask Inari to take heed of the forged weapon, the winnowed grain, the snared   
vixen, and join us into one within your house."  
  
She cast the hairpin into the cup like a spear. Instead of quenching, the blue flame spread   
across the entire surface of the liquid. Tomoe stayed perfectly still as it changed to gold,   
matching her eyes and her knife's gem. But when the spectrum continued to shift, Tomoe   
took Megumi's hand. "Don't worry, Megitstune-chan. Everything will be all right now."  
  
Was the color of the topaz really changing, or was it just reflecting the reddening flames   
around the knife? Megumi wasn't sure. The hairpin's wooden shaft was a single crimson   
ember now, and as it fell apart into the cup, everything vanished.  
  
---  
  
Rather to Kenshin's annoyance, Yumi shoved him back toward the gazebo as soon as   
Kaoru left. "You stay over there," she hissed. "I'll try to talk to 'Nishi-chan and get him   
off his guard, and maybe then you'll have an opening to charge in and get his watou   
away."  
  
"What about Tomoe?"  
  
"If Enishi had to hop, skip, and jump all the way up here, there's no way she could get   
this far unless he carried her, and he wasn't when I saw him. So get the hell back there   
and figure out what to do!"  
  
She headed back into the courtyard with her knife, leaving Hiko's sword behind. The   
heavy silver gauntlets made a huge bulge in her pockets, but she didn't seem to be   
weighted down by them. Reminded by the sight, he slipped on Kaoru's gloves, then   
wrapped her necklace a few times around his own throat and dropped the fishbone   
through the chain to secure it. It was still warm from her body. So was he.  
  
He always felt terrible about the frozen hurt that settled over Kaoru every time he held   
her away, and tonight he'd lowered his guard, expecting Megumi to interrupt them at any   
minute. But she hadn't. If Yumi hadn't joined them, anything might have happened.  
  
Resting the silver-wrapped sword across his knees, he put his head in his hands. The   
gloves had absorbed the scent and taste of Kaoru's skin, too. As closely as their sewn   
rings pressed into his face, he felt even closer to being driven completely insane by what   
he wanted from her: his own death and her passionate embrace, either of which, in its   
fullest form, would render the other one impossible.  
  
His eyelids burned with unshed tears against his fingers. As he pressed harder against   
them, he became aware that the pain was getting worse, and not just in his eyes. He   
lowered his hands and saw a faint haze of smoke rising from the silver rings, as well as   
from the necklace around his throat. Stung by the familiar sharp heat of his flesh healing   
itself, he looked around wildly, rising from the gazebo bench just as the walls burst into   
red flame.  
  
At the center of the ring, two forms shimmered into existence, both of whom he   
recognized immediately: Megumi and Tomoe. Each of them had cross-shaped cuts   
glowing on one cheek, but already fading out of existence as if they had never been   
wounded. Tomoe released Megumi's hand, letting her collapse onto the floor. Before he   
could say a word, Tomoe reached out to touch his face, kissed his scar, and stabbed him   
through the heart with her tanto. Its jewel flared and pulsed, as bright crimson as his ruby   
had ever been.  
  
He couldn't be killed this way, but both of them knew perfectly well what had happened   
when Jineh had done this to him before. He could already feel his strength pouring into   
her, leaving him as helpless as Megumi. Tomoe smiled gently. "Don't you worry," she   
whispered to him. "It's just that you can't make an omelet without breaking some legs.   
Now don't you go anywhere, love, because I'll be back soon enough. But it's all for your   
own good, you'll see."  
  
Like the jewel on her knife, the ring of flame was fading from red to gold, returning the   
night to its former darkness and more. As the last few sparks winked out, Tomoe kissed   
him once more, pulled the tanto from his chest, and cut his throat.  
  
-----  
  
Kaoru's makeout session with the Hitokiri Oro-chan was brought to you by the reviewing   
sponsorship of Jason M. Lee and his abject system shock from the alternately-paired   
smutbiscuit. I hope this makes him feel better. Say thank you to him.  
  
http://www.inari.jp is the website for what appears to be the mother ship of all Inari   
shrines. However, it's entirely in Japanese, which I can't read. Pretty pictures, though.  
  
Photochromic lenses are constructed with a layer of light-sensitive material that darkens   
in bright light but is colorless in near-dark.  
  
yabusame: a Shinto ritual that requires a mounted archer to aim at three targets while   
galloping at full speed, usually performed with a composite longbow for which the word   
is (coincidentally enough, though written with different characters) "yumi".  
  
Kawasaki rose: http://isd.canberra.edu.au/~mig/roses.htm  
  
sweet ladies: Hamlet IV.v. 74 (Ophelia)  
  
I know, I know, another cliffhanger-- but it was either wind up the entire fight in two   
pages or let it have a full chapter to itself. Nemo: wrt to Kaoru's dad, yeah, I've been   
worrying that she seems too casual about it, but my in-story handwave is that she's   
sublimating all of her grief into trying to jump Kenshin, and my external excuse is that   
(whether fortunately or not) I feel more competent to write about relationship angst of   
various flavors than about the stages of bereavement. 


	16. fire and sleet and candlelight

While Watsuki Nobuhiro and Joss Whedon certainly aren't responsible for the behavior   
of the characters in this chapter, I don't feel wholly in control of them either. Somebody   
please load up the Yukishiro-specific tranquilizer darts?  
  
  
Edodale  
By wombat  
  
Chapter 16  
  
  
Yumi ran back along the path from the koi pond, skidding to a stop in the leaf-strewn   
courtyard. The familiar icestorm of Enishi's hair was visible beyond the festival booths   
and decorations. He was still half-crouched in front of the shrine entrance, swivelling to   
look under the row of torii he'd leaped down from. Both of them must have just missed   
Kaoru's exit. "Hey," she called across at him.  
  
His watou's forward slash whirled back into a casual salute when he recognized her,   
grazing his hair with the blade. "Yumi, love." Slinging the sword over his shoulder again,   
he strode to meet her in the middle of the courtyard.  
  
At worst, he looked mildly vexed, which was reassuring. Not that there was ever a good   
way to tell what he was thinking, but his crazed attack mode was always really obvious,   
and this wasn't it. Affectionately, she said, "You stupid. One of these days you're going to   
chop off your head when you do that. If it rolls into the bushes, I won't help you find it."  
  
"Plenty of other excuses to head into the bushes, aren't there?" His teeth flashed   
moonlight at her. After a quick kiss, she boosted herself up to sit on the counter of a   
booth behind her. He did the same with the booth across the aisle. "But what're you doing   
here, and who's that you're chasing? Just run off under the torii, whoever it was; wasn't   
Battousai, by any chance? Didn't quite have the look of him, but you might know better   
than me."  
  
"Nah, that wasn't him, just the little bluebird he's taken up. I guess he's done with her for   
tonight, so he sent her back out."  
  
"He'd never. You're having me on, aren't you?"  
  
"Well, not right now, but I might if you're nice to me." She blew a kiss at him.   
  
He pretended to be flung against the booth wall by its impact. Still lounging on his side,   
he brought his legs up as well to rest an arm on one knee. If the counter were higher, he   
probably would have been swinging the watou back and forth by the cord around his   
wrist, but instead he just tapped the end of the sheath against the flagstones. "He's letting   
her fly away home? Did you tell him he can't get my sweet dove back from me, or isn't he   
even making a proper go at replacing her?"  
  
She shrugged, with more flourishes than strictly necessary. "Not my problem. So, what're   
you here for?"  
  
Lightly, Enishi leaped back down, flicking his attention back up to her face as he crossed   
the aisle, even though her half-unzipped cleavage was now at perfect eye level for him.   
"Well, if he's really given up on Tomoe, praps I needn't much worry. You planning to   
stick with him now?"  
  
"I'm kinda on my own these days, actually. So I keep track of how Bats is doing, but I   
don't really hang around with him much."  
  
"Must get a bit lonely," he murmured. "Jineh's not with us these days, so you're welcome   
to come back if you'd like. Two's company and three's even better, hey?" He toyed with   
the tendril of hair trickling down her neck, twining the strands around his fingers and   
lightly caressing her skin.  
  
Damn, she'd forgotten how good he was at this. But this was not a good time for it.   
Double damn. Where was Kenshin, anyway? And for that matter, where was Hiko?  
  
A surreptitious glance at the torii answered the latter. There was the boss creeping in now   
around the booths, looking for the best way to use that one crossbow bolt he had with   
him. If he had an extra bolt, he wasn't holding it in his teeth ready to whip into place. Oh,   
crappy freaking crap. There was only one way for everybody to get out of this, but she   
was prepared to make that sacrifice.  
  
Before Enishi could notice anything strange, she leaned forward and mashed his face into   
her chest. While making the appropriate sounds, she used her free hand to frantically   
wave Hiko away, then whipped off her overcoat and flung it behind her in the direction   
of the koi pond. Weighted down by the gauntlets stuffed into the pockets, it landed with a   
satisfying thump. So did she as Enishi pulled her off the booth counter. Hiko better have   
taken the hint. She sure couldn't tell which way he was going.  
  
---  
  
There was a plate of perfectly good kitsune-zushi in front of the fox statue that Sano was   
leaning against. Or at least the rice-stuffed pockets of tofu seemed perfectly good except   
for being as cold as the stone pedestal they were sitting on, when he'd furtively poked   
them a few minutes ago. If anything, they were probably even colder now. But food was   
food, darn it. On the other hand, even though he still wasn't sold on this whole kami   
business, it might be a bad idea to steal snacks from between Inari's own paws.  
  
After okonomiyaki at Kaoru's, he'd ambled toward his own home. But even before he got   
to the front porch, he could hear his parents arguing and throwing things, and that was   
with the doors and windows closed. At least one of them had to've been drinking tonight,   
so neither of them would've cooked anything anyway. It was better to stay clear for a   
while longer. He left his bookbag on the doormat and wandered off again for a few hours   
in search of odd scrap to turn into weapons or pocket money. Or maybe even both; he'd   
known all along that fishbones made out of pure silver would be way too soft to be useful   
in combat, but Kenshin had talked him into making a bitty prototype anyway, and better   
yet, paid him for it. Okay, it was annoying to see Kenshin getting all the benefit from that   
now, but Kaoru did seem to like it as jewelry, so maybe he could make a few more for   
Hiko's gallery to see if they'd sell.  
  
The UC Edodale campus was the major scrounging zone that was the farthest one from   
home, so he'd gone there. At the end of every school year, the out-of-town students   
always threw out everything from their dorms or apartments that wouldn't fit into their   
cars, so he could rescue all kinds of perfectly good gadgets, dishes, and other stuff the   
local pawnshops would love. But it wasn't even the end of fall semester yet. All he'd   
found tonight was a denim jacket that someone had spilled bleach onto. But other than   
that, it was practically new, and it was bigger than his old one, which was getting thin at   
the elbows and tight under the arms. In fact, it was big enough to layer on top, so he was   
slightly warmer than usual, despite the frost. Maybe he could talk Kenshin into redyeing   
it, as long as it didn't end up that wussy pink color. After that, he could plaster "Aku"   
onto the back by himself.  
  
In the meantime, Megumi's shrine wasn't exactly on the way back from campus, but it   
wasn't that far out of the way, either, and it would delay getting home for a while longer.   
But now that he was here, he wasn't sure what to do, other than look at the kitsune-zushi   
with impious thoughts. That, and wonder what Hiko's car was doing here. Either he'd   
signed in for the new ritual tonight after all, or he was here to pick up Kenshin. And that   
looked like Kaoru's mom's car beside it, so it must be about time for everyone to come   
out and go home. Car number three probably belonged to Megumi's mom or stepdad.  
  
He kind of wanted to talk to Megumi, but he wasn't sure he wanted to do that with one of   
her parents around. Or what he wanted to say. He couldn't really ask her out on a date,   
any more than he could've asked Kaoru or Yumi. Not if he wanted to treat her to a dinner   
that wasn't frozen pizza, and there was no way he'd be able to afford the kind of stuff   
Megumi was probably used to, as the daughter of two or three doctors. But it didn't look   
like he'd ever be able to detach Kaoru from either version of Kenshin, and he wasn't   
about to get between Yumi and Hiko.   
  
But he didn't want to give Megumi the idea that she was his last resort, either. Back in   
kindergarten, he'd been put in the time-out corner with her and Kaoru after all three of   
them had taken apart the classroom dolls in different ways, and they'd been friends ever   
since. But toward the end of intermediate school, she'd taken some test that qualified her   
to go cram a year of college-level courses into six weeks of summer camp. Now he felt   
weird and dumb around her-- not too much to just hang around, but enough that he didn't   
feel comfortable flirting with her the way he automatically did with Kaoru.  
  
Frustrated, Sano scrubbed his fingers through his hair and decided to go home after all.   
Halfway through the parking lot, though, footsteps came pounding down the stairs into a   
flying leap at his back. When he rolled over to punch his attacker's face, he got head-  
butted in the stomach instead. He crawled halfway under one of the cars for his own   
protection and heard an astonished, familiar voice from farther behind. "Why on earth are   
you attacking poor Sanosuke that way?"  
  
"Oh jeez." Kaoru apologetically tugged at one of his feet to help him out again. "Sorry,   
Sano, I thought you were someone else. What're you doing here, anyway?"  
  
"Spitting gravel," he demonstrated. He leaned back against a tire to adjust the shoe Kaoru   
had pulled loose. "Is Megumi still up there? That looks like her bike by the entrance,   
right?"  
  
"Um. Mom, can I stay here and talk to him? My bicycle's still here too, you know, or   
maybe I could ask Mr. Hiko to drop me off instead."  
  
Joyce Summers sighed, unlocked her car, and settled behind the steering wheel. "I don't   
think so. You're acting really strange, the way you're walking looks almost dizzy, and   
see, your face is all hot and flushed. I'm worried you might be coming down with   
something."  
  
"Can I just talk to him while you warm up the car, then? He can help me bring over my   
bike and load it in, too."  
  
"Oh, all right. But hurry up, or you'll catch a chill. You really must be starting on a cold   
or the flu already, or otherwise I don't know what's gotten into you tonight."  
  
Sano got to his feet as Joyce closed her door and turned the ignition. He muttered to   
Kaoru, "Maybe she doesn't know, but I bet it had red hair."  
  
She growled and kicked his shin, making him hop after her toward the bike rack. "Shut   
up. Listen, this is important. Yumi says it looks like Tomoe's gotten powered up again,   
and I saw Enishi running around up there with a ridiculously dangerous-looking sword. I   
was going to grab the box of fishbones and extra crossbow bolts from Hiko's car, but now   
I've been caught by the Mom Police. So you've got to take the box up there instead.   
Okay?"  
  
"And who are Emu and Tennessee?" She kicked him again, and grabbed the handlebars   
to finish walking her bike to the car. "I'm joking! I know, I know-- they're Kenshin's old   
pals like Yumi, only they're still bad guys, right?"  
  
"Right. I don't know if Hiko's car is open, but if you've got your lockpicks, that shouldn't   
be a problem."  
  
Wrestling the bike into position inside the trunk, he protested, "I'm a law-abiding citizen."  
  
"With a really short memory, because you helped me unlock my bike last week when I   
left my keys at home. So can you help or not?"  
  
"All right, all right. See you Monday, unless you're too sick to take that history test." As   
Kaoru waved out her window, Sano waved back, then kicked the gravel underfoot on the   
way to Hiko's car doors. She hadn't said if she'd already killed Kenshin for the night, but   
Sano figured that otherwise she wouldn't have left the shrine yet. It didn't occur to him, or   
Kaoru, what else she might have forgotten to tell him.  
  
---  
  
Why had Kaoru said nothing about Megumi? Hiko wondered, among other things. He   
folded Yumi's coat over one arm, as his silver gauntlets were too bulky to extricate from   
her pockets either quickly or quietly. Neither of those adverbs seemed to apply in great   
measure to the diversionary tactics Yumi was deploying on Enishi. While it would be   
imprecise to speculate whether she knew what she was doing, Hiko hoped that she had   
evaluated the possible risks beforehand.  
  
A clearly marked path led away from the courtyard, a few paces beyond where the coat   
had landed. Yumi's aim had been remarkably good for such an impromptu trajectory.   
Presumably Kenshin and Megumi were waiting at the other end of it, though he saw no   
sign of them when he reached the edge of the koi pond, where the path forked to encircle   
it. The surface rippled with lantern light, and the splashes of insomniac frogs or fish   
echoed from the waving reeds on the far shore. However, one branch of the path led   
toward a little island with a gazebo perched on it, and the scent of smoke blew across   
from there. He went to investigate. The gazebo's interior lay in shadow from the moon   
overhead, so it took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, and another to   
interpret what he saw.  
  
"Miss Rosenberg?" She lay on the floor like a doll that had been dressed and discarded by   
an impatient child. Her clothing was both familiar and strange-- he'd certainly never seen   
her nor any of her fellow students wearing anything like this, but he recalled old family   
photographs of his grandmother as a young woman, stiffly posed in a similar long skirt   
and narrow-waisted jacket.  
  
He lowered the crossbow, setting it aside. Carefully, he lifted Megumi up onto a bench   
and spread Yumi's coat over her. She was breathing shallowly, but appeared to be   
unharmed. He rummaged in his own coat pockets for his emergency sake supply and   
tipped the flask against her mouth until she spluttered weakly. "Ooh. My head hurts.   
Where is everyone?"  
  
"I was hoping to obtain that information from you. However, Yumi and Enishi are in the   
courtyard and Kaoru has gone home."  
  
"Yumi and--? Oh, yikeypoo! Wait a moment, how did you get here? Or-- hey, we're in   
the shrine again, aren't we? You guys weren't waiting here all this time for me and   
Tomoe, were you? So where'd she go? Did she take Kenshin with her?" Hiko offered her   
the sake a second time, but she waved it away. A long shimmer of silver spilled out of her   
jacket as she sat up. It was the fishbone necklace which Kenshin had given Kaoru. He   
followed its trail to the floor, where he found his own sword left beneath the bench.  
  
After leaning the wrapped katana upright against the wall, Hiko picked up the necklace   
and wrapped the chain into a neat bundle around the pendant. He shook the sake flask   
contemplatively before closing it and setting it aside.. "I suspect I had better save this   
until I have a better grasp of the situation. Now, start at the beginning, continue through   
the middle, and then when you reach the end, stop."  
  
---  
  
"You always liked it fast," Enishi complained good-naturedly from inside Yumi's leather   
jacket. "Seems to me we've both been waiting long enough. Haven't had a proper chance   
at this since Tomoe took ill."  
  
She smacked the glasses parked on top of his head. "And you're the one who always   
wanted to slow down and smell the roses, so enjoy it while you can."  
  
"Oh, is that what these are, roses? Too bloody dark, I can't tell. You've definitely got   
something pointy in here. It's all fun and games until some poor bloke loses an eye on   
them." He obviously decided to risk his mouth instead. Yumi squirmed, delighted to have   
solved so many current dilemmas so neatly. The scabbard of his watou was an   
uncomfortable long ridge beneath her back, but it seemed a better alternative than trying   
to kick the sword out of reach. If she tried that, he'd be sure to notice, and he'd still be   
able to make a leap for it before she could roll upright and try to grab it first once Hiko   
and Kenshin came back. Whenever that was. They were sure taking their time, but so was   
Enishi. Whee!  
  
In fact, more than whee. Lots more than whee. Right now, she was almost willing to   
forgive him for the past three years of ignoring her while he muttered about getting even   
with Bats, not to mention the times before that when he'd let Tomoe's name slip out at   
delicate moments. Maybe even for wearing those biohazard-orange pants; whenever she'd   
complained about those, all he'd ever done was offer to appease her aesthetic standards   
by removing them. And, of course, grin at her.   
  
Between him and Bats, she used to wonder if getting demonized made guys lose their   
color vision as well as their conscience, or if those two just never had any fashion sense   
to start with. But except for their dorky favorite colors, their clothes were actually okay,   
compared to Jineh's stupid hat which would've looked ten times more stupid in anything   
else besides the basic black he at least had the decency to keep it in, and whoa, wicked   
cool tongue action, golly, wowsers.  
  
As she caught her breath again, he scuffled around with her bodice zippers. She wasn't   
sure whether they'd confused or entertained him at first, but now he was making train   
noises as he ran them up and down her torso with his teeth. "Zheese r fhun," he   
murmured between two chugs and a whistle.  
  
"Cut that out-- if you drool on them they'll get rusty."  
  
"They will?" He peeked inside the zippers. "Want me to oil them?"  
  
She smacked him again. "Not those. How're you doing? Want anything for yourself?"  
  
"World peace and a warm puppy?"  
  
"Sorry, I'm fresh out of those."  
  
He sighed, gazing up at her with the sad-puppy-eyes equivalent of an entire dog pound.   
"Well, blast it all. I'll just have to settle for some naughty touching."  
  
---  
  
By the time Megumi had finished comparing notes with Hiko, she felt much better. Okay,   
so even freakier things were going on tonight than she had previously imagined possible,   
but her wounds had all healed up somehow, no one was threatening to make any new   
ones to replace them, and she'd had some mochi to eat, as well as a bit more sake on an   
otherwise empty stomach. It resulted in a nice floaty feeling, at least for her. Hiko still   
looked really stressed out, though, or as much as he ever let that kind of thing show. Eyes   
narrowed, he tapped his sword against the bench with his gauntlets on. "So Enishi and   
Yumi are accounted for, but neither Tomoe nor Kenshin, who may have become   
Battousai by now. What concerns me most is that we still have no clear explanation for   
this chain of events."  
  
"At least Kaoru didn't say he'd gone Battousai by the time she ran into you," Megumi   
pointed out, and hiccupped gently.  
  
"She scarcely could have done so in front of her mother, though I imagine that if she'd   
deemed it necessary, she could have given some indication that he was out of sorts. Still,   
it sounds as if Tomoe's powers reawakened on their own, or at least without requiring   
direct activation from Battousai as was the case with Yumi. And yet Enishi's   
mistreatment of you failed to benefit him in that regard."  
  
"He was using Tomoe's knife. Maybe things would've been different if he'd used his own   
watou sword thingy instead, or does he still have it?"  
  
"He certainly does." Hiko offered Megumi his arm, but she just blinked at it. "Miss   
Rosenberg, I believe you ought to leave the shrine if you possibly can, unless there is   
some assistance you can offer that would outweigh the risk should you remain. Can you   
walk?"  
  
"My legs still feel wiggly," she said mournfully. "But I think I'll be okay if I just stay in   
here."  
  
"Even though this is where Tomoe brought you?"  
  
She pointed at the inner edge of the roof. A shimenawa hung around it, with one loose   
end dangling to form a gap. "I was going to finish tacking that up once everybody got   
here, but I guess Kenshin and Kaoru didn't notice. They probably had other things on   
their minds. Hey, you don't think that whatever they did on their own is what started   
everything, do you?"  
  
"I should hope not, but I intend to have words with them all the same, if events allow it.   
You're certain the shimenawa will protect you once the circle's complete?"  
  
She hooked her box of supplies with one foot, dragging it closer to her bench. "I've got all   
this other stuff in here too. If nothing else works, I can always throw sake on someone   
and set it on fire."  
  
"Very well," Hiko said reluctantly. "I'll leave the crossbow with you all the same. Perhaps   
it would serve best as a signalling device-- if you see anything unusual, put some mochi   
on the end of the bolt and set it alight before firing into the air, toward the courtyard." He   
fastened up the shimenawa before he left, heading back down the path with his sword.  
  
The clothing Tomoe had swapped with her while she was unconscious again was actually   
pretty warm. The boiled-wool skirted suit completely covered her from chin to ankles,   
and there were at least two or three layers underneath: a blouse and petticoat, plus a lot of   
weird-feeling lingerie that the extra-long tabi seemed to be attached to. She folded   
Yumi's coat into a pillow and curled up on her side, poking at the box with one hand. Her   
notebook was sitting on top-- the others must've brought it here from her bookbag-- but   
the plans she'd originally had for tonight weren't going to be very useful now. She ripped   
out the first page of plans, looked at it upside-down, and started to absent-mindedly fold   
it into origami while she tried to think of something to do.  
  
It would be tough to kill Battousai without Kaoru around, because if he was here, he   
probably wouldn't let just anyone else kill him. But maybe Kenshin was just talking with   
Tomoe somewhere around here. If they were lucky, Enishi wasn't any more dangerous   
right now than any other cheerfully psycho guy with a five-foot sword, and Yumi wasn't   
a problem any more, at least not in that way. Jineh was probably still looking for jigsaw   
pieces of himself underground. So really the main threat right now was Tomoe.  
  
She'd finished her origami, and propped it up in front of her face to see what she'd   
automatically folded this time. It was a fox. Big surprise. "I do not like them with a fox,"   
she mumbled to herself. "I do not like them in a box. Not in the dark! Not in a tree! Not   
in a car! You let me be!"  
  
Her brain slowly caught up to her mouth. Tree. Tree? She pulled out the big fir branch   
that was sticking up from the box, and waved it around swoopily. Definite tree! She sat   
up to tear the branch apart. When the little side-twigs were all stripped off into a pile   
beside her, she made another origami fox and put it next to the first one. Now came the   
twiddly bit. She just hoped she had enough paper and mochi.  
  
---  
  
Water poured into Kenshin's nose and mouth, as well as the wide slash across his throat   
which would have kept him from screaming if he'd had any air left to do it with. When   
Tomoe dragged him back out into the reeds, he vomited up sunset clouds of foam,   
streaked with blood and fire. With wistful curiosity, she asked, "Why aren't you dead   
yet?" He couldn't answer her, of course. She dipped her fingers into his wound, pressing   
into the raw edges of his trachea as she half-lifted him toward her. "This hurts me as   
much as it hurts you, don't you know? Everything has, ever since you made me kill you   
last time and a piece of your soul lodged into me with my own. I have enough of my own   
pain without needing yours. Take it back, I don't want it any more."   
  
Despite her tightening grip, he shook his head uncomprehendingly. She dropped him   
back into the freezing mud and fished around inside his coat, which she'd taken from him   
and put on after exchanging clothes with Megumi at the other side of the pond. The thin   
linen shift flashed pale as she drew out her knife again. Its jewel was still flickering,   
neither the glowing crimson of his own sword's ruby nor the golden topaz that Tomoe's   
eyes shone now, but caught instead in an intermediate russet-amber like Megumi's hair.   
"It's as much yours as mine now," Tomoe mused. "I made it yours so it would bring us to   
you, but now it won't come back to me. I thought it would if I killed you with it, but how   
can it work if you won't stay dead?"  
  
He coughed a stunned-looking fish out of his throat and tried to hold the gap closed so he   
could speak, but the best he could do so far was a bubbling sort of whistle. "The little   
vixen changed back to her former self," she continued, "and I didn't even have to kill her.   
Maybe she would've died from what Enishi did to her with my knife, but that all went   
away from her when we came here. All of her scrapes healed up, just like my face. That   
should've weakened you from the start, because we used your strength to do it. But then   
you're not really yourself right now, are you? Not if part of you is still part of me. That's   
what Enishi always says, you know." She'd been toying with the blood-streaked buttons   
of her nightgown, but now suddenly stopped and tilted her head in thought. Casually   
planting her knife back into Kenshin's chest, she rolled back the coat sleeve to expose the   
ribbon-tied lace at her wrist, and pulled a glinting silver strand from the knot.  
  
---  
  
Something very strange was certainly going on, Enishi thought abstractedly, with the   
portion that wasn't devoted to enjoying Yumi's attentions. She certainly wasn't telling him   
everything. She'd already as good as admitted that she'd met up with Battousai here just   
now, but she'd said precious little else about the brat. Was he still here, or had he   
scarpered off? And she hadn't said a word about the weapons she wasn't carrying-- her   
own naginata was nowhere in sight, nor the unfamiliar sword he'd seen her carrying   
earlier. So even if Battousai didn't have his own sword with him at first, he had one now.   
  
Meanwhile, just what was Yumi after with him, besides the obvious? "Oh, that's lovely,"   
he murmured to her, straightening his glasses. "Just a bit higher. And have a care with   
those fingernails of yours, if you don't mind."  
  
She rolled her eyes. "Sheesh. You used to be disappointed if I didn't scratch you up."  
  
"Just like you'd make a fuss if I didn't cut you up a treat? 'Fraid I don't have any soy sauce   
or vinegar to rub into it, but I see you've got a knife with you."  
  
"Hey!" A moment too late, she leaped away from him. He'd already pulled the knife from   
her belt, and slammed her back down into the leaves.   
  
She still looked upset, even when he traced her lips with the blade's point. That'd been   
one of her favorites, too. Something was wrong for certain. "So what is it you've been up   
to with Battousai? Come on, you can tell me. As long as he never tries to take Tomoe   
from me again, I've got no quarrel with him, but I wouldn't say no if you wanted to leave   
him and stay with us."  
  
"I told you, I'm on my own now. And I'm staying that way, so get off me."  
  
"Don't think so," he said tenderly. "Why'd you bring him a sword tonight? Did something   
happen to his old one, and maybe your naginata too? Or did he take that away from you?"   
He pressed harder with the knife until both of them flinched with shock.   
  
Her violet eyes were more furious than ever, despite the dark trickle down her cheek. She   
was bleeding? He licked it to be sure, and there was that telltale taste of salt and iron, like   
teardrops on steel. "Yumi, sweetheart. What did Battousai do to you? Tomoe said   
something about him clipping your wings, but I didn't know what to make of it. Praps if I   
could--"  
  
"I said get off!" He let her kick him away, if only because it might make her feel better   
somehow. She snatched for her knife, but he held it away from her for a moment before   
reconsidering and tossing it back.   
  
As she caught it, he scooped his watou back up from the ground. "That would've been a   
nice keepsake to hang onto until I can bring you back, but you should ought have   
something to remember the rest of us by in the meantime. But now I've more reason than   
ever to peel the skin off that little snake, so he can undo whatever it was he's done. So   
where's he gone, then?"  
  
She jerked her clothing back into place, with ferocious snarls of zippage. "Go away,   
Enishi. Just forget about it and go away."  
  
"I can't just leave you here like this, can I? If you're going to be this way, I'll just have to   
bring you along willy-nilly. It's for your own good, really." She slashed at his hand, but   
while it hurt, it didn't cause any real damage. His bones gleamed white from the smiling   
gash. Resigned, he brought his sheathed watou up across her throat and pulled until she   
stumbled to her knees, choking. He pulled Tomoe's crimson undersash from his pocket   
and tied Yumi's wrists together, with an extra loop up to her neck that would choke her   
again if she tried to work loose.  
  
This would've been easier if she'd come on her own-- it wouldn't be easy to carry her   
back across all those torii-- but maybe he could drag her down to the bottom of the hill   
and throw her across the wall. Or would that work after all? She was going to be fearfully   
breakable until he could get things squared away. He turned her around and chucked her   
chin. "You going to behave now and let me help you?" he enquired. She glared at him,   
then averted her eyes as if in disgust. Or wait, that wasn't quite right either.  
  
He leaped away from the direction she'd glanced at, just in time to miss the quick arc of a   
sword. It was the same one she'd been carrying before, but its wielder wasn 't Battousai. It   
was some big dark-haired bloke he'd never seen before. And with any luck, he'd never see   
him again, either.  
  
Launching his sheath straight up into the air, Enishi swooped the blade down and across.   
The bloke moved fast for someone that size-- he was taller, and had a slightly longer   
reach, but not enough to make up for the watou's extra length. As the katana lunged in   
return, Enishi bounded above its range, caught the falling sheath, and prepared to   
thoroughly enjoy himself.  
  
---  
  
Dang, this box was heavy. It was a little lighter after Sano took most of the fishbones out   
of it and stuffed them into his jacket, but all that really did was redistribute where he was   
carrying the same amount of weight. When he reached the first landing, he flopped down   
on the bench for a rest.  
  
The Hikomobile's locks had been tougher than he'd expected. The others probably didn't   
even need him by now. For all the good he was doing, he might as well have been the   
supply mule. At least a supply mule would've had a feed bag. He should've eaten that   
kitsune-zushi at the bottom of the stairs after all, he thought, wincing at the squeal his   
stomach made at him.   
  
Wait a minute, that wasn't his stomach, or he would've felt that and not just heard it. He   
looked up toward the next bend. There was that noise again, and it definitely wasn't his   
stomach this time. It sounded more like... Yumi? Entirely forgetting the box of crossbow   
bolts, he dashed upstairs toward the main grounds of the shrine.  
  
---  
  
There was just enough mochi to get everything done. Megumi had to soften it up by   
dripping sake into the plastic bag and mooshing it around, but after that, it was easy to   
pinch out pea-sized lumps. Now she had a tiny forest of fir twigs on the gazebo floor,   
each one held upright by a bit of mochi at its base. Most of them were in a snaky conga   
line like all of the torii over the stairs. She'd scooped some water into a big bowl, and   
poured some sake into that as well before setting it down in the middle. This could work.   
She had a warm, fuzzy feeling about already. Either that, or Hiko had given her just a   
little too much sake. Nah. This was definitely going to work.  
  
She went back to tearing pages out of her notebooks and making more origami foxes.   
Intent on this task, she didn't notice anything outside the gazebo until there was a thump   
beside her. Oh, that was weird. Kenshin had shown back up all muddy, and he'd decided   
to take a nap on the floor. Whatever. She rolled him under a bench so she could finish the   
job.  
  
---  
  
At least Yumi had been able to get out of the way, which was one less concern. But the   
only unmitigated advantage so far was that the festival booths were sufficiently close   
together to impede Enishi's range of motion, as well as sturdy enough not to fall apart   
when struck. However, Hiko did not consider this to be adequate grounds for   
complacency.  
  
Before the initial mission to recover Yumi, he'd followed Megumi's suggestion of tucking   
ofuda inside the coil of silver wire around his katana. Not having had the occasion to test   
the improvement then, he'd simply left it in the same condition ever since. Gratifyingly, it   
appeared to inflict a fair amount of damage to his opponent.   
  
Enishi had seemed nonchalant about accepting the first glancing blow. The wrapped edge   
couldn't break his skin by itself, though the cut from Yumi's knife didn't seem to bother   
him at all. But the silver had seared his flesh, kindling a flame around the katana's blade.   
The ofuda were burning, Hiko supposed, but this was lingering longer than would be   
expected from a few strips of paper.  
  
Since then, the duel had become far less playful. The watou was still sharp-edged along   
all its deadly length, and its scabbard was nearly as dangerous. Dark streaks of char ran   
across Enishi's shoulder and the opposite arm, and the silver shock of hair was singed   
across one side, but Hiko was limping from a blunt strike across the back of one leg and   
his neck was bleeding.   
  
The key was to focus on Enishi, instead of his own katana. Its fiery blaze would only   
increase night-blindness. Before being half-lamed, Hiko had driven him toward the torii,   
but now Enishi was forcing him away again.  
  
Unexpectedly, Enishi backed off and paused. "So," he said. "What's the likes of you want   
with Yumi? You think you can get her away from Battousai if I can't?"  
  
"I have no intention of getting her, as you put it. She may disport herself as she pleases,   
as long as she and her companions are equally willing."  
  
"Right. So after she brings you this sword of yours, you don't even want her? Seems a   
shame to let her go to waste."  
  
"She is not your property, nor mine. If you have no further business with her, I suggest   
that you leave her in peace."  
  
Enishi snorted. "Think I'd rather leave you in pieces, mate. Have at you, then." Abruptly   
concluding the truce, he stabbed at Hiko again, striking the katana aside with his   
scabbard. Hiko twisted out of the way, to the grave detriment of that ankle, but brought   
up his burning blade against Enishi's side. Enishi snarled, kicked Hiko's bruised leg out   
from under him, and rolled away to quench his smoldering coat, tucking the watou close   
against his body. As Hiko stumbled up, the watou's scabbard hurled into him from the   
darkness, knocking him down again.  
  
Good. Enishi was getting desperate. Hiko seized it and levered himself to his feet, ready   
to fight two-handed in turn. Bracing himself for the next attack, he cast about for the   
other man's position. But how could Enishi be standing directly beneath the torii?  
  
The scabbard wrenched out of his hands from behind, where Enishi had landed. By   
reflex, Hiko swept his katana across, catching him again, but his leg had had enough. He   
should have worn his boots, he thought as he fell, or something that provided more   
protection. Grimly, he watched Enishi's silhouette loom over him again, dimly outlined   
against the night with red and golden embers. "Praps you're right and Yumi isn't mine   
after all. But it seems for certain that she won't be yours." The watou rose over him,   
splitting the silver moon, and fell.  
  
---  
  
Damn Enishi, and damn his knot-tying expertise, and damn the tensile strength of silk.   
Hopelessly snared in the length of gauze he'd tied around her, Yumi squirmed around,   
trying to find her knife again. She'd gotten it to fall back out of her belt, but now it was   
somewhere under the leaves. If she could just figure out where it was and brace it against   
something to cut Tomoe's undersash, everything would be great. Other than the whole   
mess of Enishi and Hiko thwacking at each other on the other side of the courtyard, and   
whatever had happened with Tomoe and Megumi, and where the heck was Kenshin after   
all this time? "I am going to slap the red right out of his hair for taking this much time,"   
she growled to herself. Hey, was that her knife in front of her finally? But what was it   
doing up in the air, and for that matter, why would it be sticking out of the end of   
Kenshin's coat sleeve?  
  
"You can't do that, pretty Yumi. Not unless you wait your turn."  
  
Oh, crap. "Gosh. It's great to see you, Tomoe. How're you doing?"  
  
"I humbly thank you, well well well."  
  
"Uh, would you mind not waving that in my face?"  
  
"But it's not in your face yet. Would you like it to be?" The demure tone and facial   
expression were completely at odds with the molten pyre of her eyes, and the topaz in her   
tanto's hilt shone oddly red, as if filtered through a film of blood.  
  
"No, that's okay. Really. Hey, did you know there's a piece of gum or something stuck to   
your knife?" Yumi would've liked to continue the conversation, but Tomoe kneeled   
between her shoulderblades, pressing her mouth into the flagstones as the undersash   
pulled tight around her throat.  
  
---  
  
He'd known his old jacket was done for anyway, but this just made sure of it. As Sano   
grabbed out a bunch of fishbones, the pocket tore through. The rest of the fish on that   
side scattered down the stairs, but he was nearly at the top anyway. There'd been fighting   
noises just now, and then they'd stopped. Just when he'd thought he hadn't missed all the   
action this time, he had again. Sheesh! Hiko was looking at him funny from the   
courtyard, probably about to give him some sarcastic greeting about timely arrivals. How   
did he manage to set his sword on fire, anyway?  
  
Or was Hiko looking at the guy standing on top of that wooden crossbar? Nope, Hiko   
was definitely looking at him, or he'd've paid more attention to crossbar guy launching   
himself up and over him, and knocking him down with a ridiculously big-ass sword? This   
was so not good.  
  
As crossbar guy prepared to slice up some Hiko loaf, Sano let loose with some prime   
fishbones. At least one of them hit well enough to make the guy jerk backwards,   
unexpectedly overbalanced by his own sword. He recovered and hacked down at Hiko   
anyway, but by then Hiko had time to roll out of range. Rolling wasn't going to get him   
very far, though. Why wasn't he getting up?  
  
Okay, ridiculously big-ass sword guy was probably Enishi, based on what Kaoru had   
said. Whoever he was, he didn't like getting a fishbone to the throat. He hurled it back at   
Sano and started after Hiko. Sano slowed him down with another barrage of fishbones,   
but after a few more exchanges, Enishi pulled the most recent hit out of his chest and sent   
it straight into Hiko's shoulder, hammering it down with his scabbard. Sano winced as   
some of the fishbone spines shattered, fountaining out in a spray of blood.   
  
Looking pleased, Enishi leaned down to twist the fish's tail. The katana flicked up toward   
him, but Enishi kicked the hilt out of Hiko's hand. The blade's flames hissed and   
sputtered out. Sano prepared himself for a dead run into hand-to-hand fish-slapping, but   
before he got farther than a few steps out the torii, something else got Enishi's attention.   
It was Sano's old coat, out for a walk around someone who wasn't Kenshin, and with a   
long gauze scarf trailing behind her.  
  
"Tomoe? Little dove? However did you get out here?" Enishi reached toward her,   
disbelievingly. "It's not safe for you out in the open. Once I've finished up, I'll take you   
home. You do want to go home, don't you?"  
  
"Home is the place where when you go there, they have to take you in." She took off her   
scarf as she came to Enishi and wrapped it around his neck, drawing him close. Enishi   
bent to kiss her, but faltered and stumbled. Tomoe leaned forward, tilting him back and   
leaving the gauze wrapped around his neck as she pressed her knife deeper into his chest.   
He crumpled to the ground with his watou still in hand, as slowly as the snow that was   
beginning to fall from the cloudless, moonlit sky.  
  
---  
  
Kenshin was taking a serious nap here if her chanting wasn't waking him up. Oh well.   
Megumi shrugged and kept mixing her slurry of salt and water. She'd already set up   
origami foxes in the approximate positions of all the shrine buildings, as well as the two   
actual stone foxes in front of the first torii. The bowl at her feet represented the koi pond,   
so she was standing where the gazebo would be. Even though she was already in the   
gazebo. Gosh, this was recursive. There'd only been one open space left in the middle of   
all of this stuff that had been big enough for the incense burner, and that was where the   
courtyard was supposed to be. So there it sat, crammed with all of the incense sticks it   
could hold, as if the courtyard were being taken over by a giant perfumed porcupine.  
  
The slurry still looked runny. She added a handful of rice to it before scattering the   
mixture over the entire model she'd constructed of the shrine grounds, and repeating the   
purification chant for good measure. Was this working after all? She wasn't sure, but at   
least it was giving her something to do. She sprinkled the last of the sake around for good   
measure. Once she set the incense on fire, she'd be out of supplies and ideas, and then   
maybe she could take a nap too. She lit the last glob of mochi on the tip of the crossbow   
bolt, and aimed it at the incense burner.  
  
---  
  
By habit, Sano stuck out his tongue to catch the first few snowflakes. But since when was   
snow salty?  
  
By now thoroughly freaked out, he checked out Tomoe and Enishi. She was kneeling   
over him, both of them completely motionless even though smoke was rising from every   
flake of salt that struck their bodies. He scrambled over to where Hiko was lying, a few   
yards away. "Hey. What's going on?"  
  
Yumi crawled out from behind a booth, coughing. "She untied me. Is the boss okay?"  
  
"I have certainly felt better," Hiko rasped. "Mr. Harris, can you reach my sword?"  
  
He gingerly crept around Tomoe and picked it up, but as he passed her again, she   
withdrew her knife from Enishi and knocked the katana away as she stood up. "You   
won't be needing that," she said, and walked over to Hiko as Sano leaped aside. Enishi   
struggled up as well, the crimson gauze rippling back from his throat like a river of blood.   
  
"Tomoe, sweetheart," he pleaded. "Now that you're well again, everything will be all   
right. Don't leave me for him, the way Yumi did. Come back to me, won't you?"  
  
She didn't even turn to look at him. Instead, she waited for Hiko to sit up, firmly wrapped   
one of his silver gauntlets around her knife's hilt, and helped him stab her with it. A   
swirling rush of fire burst out along the black blade as soon as its tip touched the ground   
through her body. The light flickered from amber to garnet to white-gold citrine, finally   
crystallizing into the pale, dead grey of ash just before the tanto fell apart. When Hiko   
opened his hand, a topaz tumbled out onto Tomoe's still form. A silver thread still clung   
to its surface, held by a smear of soft rice candy, but it crumbled away and was lost in the   
autumn leaves.  
  
The salt snow had turned to rain, but each droplet still blistered Enishi's skin, though it   
had ceased to burn Tomoe as soon as her tanto was destroyed. His face twisting with rage   
and despair, he poised his watou to cut through Sano, Hiko, and Yumi all at once. But a   
halo of white smoke rose around him, enveloping him in a cocoon of scent that thickened   
to opacity and then vanished.  
  
He was gone. The rain stopped. Sano and Yumi looked at Hiko, who had removed a   
gauntlet to tug at the fishbone embedded in his shoulder. "If you keep picking at it, it'll   
never heal," Sano said, and got up to find Megumi.  
  
-----  
  
(Only one review for chapter 15? Snif. Nooobody loooves meeee. Going on vacation for   
a week or so; hope y'all will be a bit kinder to this chapter, even though I'm finishing it up   
on far less sleep than sensible. Thanks in the meantime to Jason M. Lee for his review, as   
well as to Firuze Khanume for cheering on Enishi (who may not have actually needed it,   
but hey).)  
  
Inari's own paws: as mentioned in previous chapter notes, Inari isn't a fox per se, but trust   
Sano to not really care about the details. There's a very nice webpage (in English!) for   
one of the three largest Inari shrines in Japan at http://www.kasama.or.jp/english/ ,   
including a brief rundown on yabusame (mentioned last time). However, I'm still playing   
very fast and loose with Real Shinto.   
  
Start at the beginning: stolen from one of Lewis Carroll's "Alice" books, I think.  
  
With a fox: slightly rearranged from _Green Eggs and Ham_ by Dr. Seuss.  
  
Should ought: the redundancy is technically called a "double modal", which term also   
covers the similar construction "might could" which I may've also been slipping in. Quite   
possibly not actually in whatever regional dialect Spike uses, but then I don't know how   
stringent Whedon is about such things either.  
  
Well well well: _Hamlet_ III.i.103  
  
Home is the place: Robert Frost, "The Death of the Hired Man", lines 122-123. 


	17. and blossom in purple and red

Celle-ci ne suis pas Watsuki Nobuhiro ou Joss Whedon.  
  
Edodale  
By wombat  
  
Chapter 17   
  
  
Megumi flopped down onto the nearest bench in the gazebo. She wasn't sure what time it   
must be by now, but she felt completely wiped out. Her latest outfit was getting awfully   
uncomfortable, too; no wonder Tomoe had ditched it and gotten back into that nightgown   
instead. She'd barely closed her eyes when Sano came crashing down the path, racing   
right past her to follow the bright path of moonlight across the floor. Before she could say   
anything, he lunged down toward the muddy red hair smeared across the opposite side,   
dragged out the attached body from under its own bench, and shook it frantically.   
"Megumi? Hey, Megumi!"  
  
"You mooshed my origami foxes," she accused, making him leap all the way out again.   
"Kenshin's been totally zonked for a while now, so I bet you can't wake him up either.   
Where did Mr. Hiko go?"  
  
Recovering, Sano peeked back in and around at her, finally spotting her in the shadows.   
"He's out in the courtyard with Yumi. And that Tomoe chick. And a fishbone in his   
shoulder. Is that Kenshin? What the hell happened to him?"  
  
"I dunno, but I guess my foxes didn't chase off Tomoe after all. You fishboned Hiko and   
lived to tell about it?"  
  
"No, that Enishi guy did, just before he went up in a puff of smoke. Actually, it smelled   
kind of like the incense you've got going in here. Did you do that?"  
  
"Wow. I guess whatever I was doing worked after all. Yay me! Oh, speaking of which,   
did you drop Kenshin onto the incense burner? That's gotta hurt."  
  
Hastily, Sano rolled Kenshin around the floor to quench his smoldering sweater, which   
ended up with fir twigs and crushed origami stuck all over it with little globs of mochi.   
"Did Kaoru just leave him like this? That's pretty rude."  
  
"Leave him like what? I bet he-- oh, yuck," Megumi blurted as she got a good look at   
Kenshin. She'd only glanced at the back of his sweater before, and except for all the mud,   
it had looked basically normal. This was so not true of the rest of him. "Is he going to be   
okay?"  
  
Sano grimaced. "Guess we should rinse him off and see if there's anything missing.   
Kaoru must've been really mad at him. Did she have to watch him making out with   
Tomoe this time?"  
  
"Hiko said Kaoru left before I got here, so I dunno. I thought Kenshin just wandered in   
and passed out, but maybe Tomoe dropped him off here on her way to the courtyard.   
What's she doing over there?"  
  
"She's kind of busy being dead too. And like I said, Enishi already went poof, so it should   
be pretty safe now. Think we should go ask Hiko what to do next?"  
  
"I guess. Just give me a moment to get up and barf, will you?"   
  
Sano held her hair out of the way while she threw up onto the grass of the little island.   
"By the way," he said, "you win that bet about not waking Kenshin up."   
  
After a while, Yumi staggered into view under Hiko's unwounded shoulder. She half-  
dragged him to the gazebo before starting to unsling the weapons she was also carrying.   
Her knife was hanging at her belt, as usual, but Hiko's sword had been awkwardly tucked   
under her arm and was getting snagged in her jacket hardware. "Hey, Megitsune-chan--   
you okay?"  
  
"Miss Rosenberg?" Hiko enquired, leaning heavily against a support post.  
  
Megumi grimaced and spat out some last bitter strings of slime. "Oh, just go on in and sit   
down. Never mind the origami foxes, Sano squished most of them already. Someone else   
squished Kenshin, though."  
  
Startled, Yumi took a closer look at the gazebo floor. "Oh, yuck!"  
  
"Yeah, that was pretty much Megumi's diagnosis too. So, what the heck do we do with   
him now?"  
  
"Perhaps a good start would be to bring Miss Yukishiro here as well, if you would be so   
kind as to assist Miss Komagata." As Sano followed Yumi down the path, Megumi made   
her way over to the bench next to where Hiko was still standing. He didn't look in much   
better shape than Kenshin. Well, actually, he did, but it was still pretty lousy shape.  
  
"Those are some serious multiple compound fishbones in your shoulder. Should I try to   
get them out?"   
  
"Perhaps it would be prudent to seek out some form of anesthetic first. I don't suppose   
there's any more sake left?"  
  
"Nope. Sake all go bye-bye fall down. Like I bet you will if you don't sit down already.   
Jeez, if you bleed much more, your shirt's going to look like one of Kenshin's."   
  
Faced with these dire predictions, Hiko sat down. "I assume Kenshin himself will recover   
shortly," he said, poking the muddy sweater with his katana and a complete lack of   
concern.  
  
"He'd better, or Kaoru's going to kill him. Sano said Enishi went after you? At least until   
I managed to zap him somehow, but--"  
  
"That was your doing? Good heavens. He simply evaporated. What did you do, and   
how?"  
  
"I don't know." Now that Megumi thought about it, she really didn't know. "It just   
seemed like a good idea at the time," she said haltingly. "Almost like I'd done that before,   
only different. I don't even recognize some of the words I was chanting. Do you think   
maybe--" She broke off as Sano returned with Tomoe over his shoulder.  
  
Tagging in behind him, Yumi set down the box of crossbow bolts and tossed a small rock   
to Hiko. "Here's her topaz, boss. Guess we can give it back to her when she wakes up,   
whenever that is. Too bad she doesn't have a health plan, unless you want to hire her on   
the spot and give her a benefits package. On the other hand, all they really did with me   
was apply the hospital versions of Gatorade and Pocari Sweat for a few days, so maybe   
we can just try to pour that kind of stuff down her throat."  
  
As Sano draped Tomoe over an available bench, Kenshin's coat fell partially open over   
her nightgown. Despite the ethanolic drizzle that had fallen over them earlier, no smears   
had spread from the neat script written down the line of buttons. "Dear me," Hiko said.   
"Is that her own work? It must have been rather difficult to write out everything clearly   
from that angle. Very robust ink, too."  
  
"Well, she wrote it out when I was wearing that," Megumi said, edging away. "And she   
used my blood to do it."  
  
"Oh dear." Hiko winced in sympathy, and again when Yumi slapped his hand away from   
the metal splinters in his shoulder.   
  
"We'll have to get you to the hospital too, to take all those fishbone pieces out. Hope you   
can think of some way to explain them, because I'm out of ideas for tonight."  
  
"Are you?" He raised an eyebrow or two.   
  
"Oh. That thing with Enishi? Yeah, maybe I could've handled that better." Yumi's fidget   
intensified. "Sorry, I didn't mean to put it that way. Oh dang it, I meant--" Confused,   
Megumi glanced at Sano, but he didn't look like he knew what they were talking about   
either.  
  
"I intended no recrimination nor offense," Hiko said, more awkwardly than Megumi   
would've thought possible outside of librarian mode. "In any case, evidently his departure   
was Miss Rosenberg's doing. But perhaps you might know where he went just now, or   
when he may return?"  
  
Yumi shook her head, loosening a few more dead leaves from her hair. "I've never seen   
anything like that, except when we were hit with the sakabatou. But that left our weapons   
behind, and he took his watou with him just now. Think he's still out there somewhere? I   
did a quick run partway down the stairs and I didn't see him trying to scramble up the   
torii again, but that doesn't mean he isn't waiting at the bottom for us."  
  
Sano pulled the last few fishbones out of the box. "I'll go take a look. Back in a minute."  
  
"Hey Sano, wait!"  
  
"He'll be okay. At least if he has the sense to stay under the torii," Yumi called after him   
as a reminder, then turned back to Hiko. "So if the kid says it's safe, can you handle the   
stairs by yourself? Dunno if we'll all fit into your car, but I don't think you're going to be   
shifting any more gears tonight. I guess we finally get to find out if I know how to drive   
that thing."  
  
"I beg your pardon, but perhaps that won't be necessary." The tentative whisper surprised   
all of them, but nearly sent Megumi into blind panic as Tomoe sat up. "I'm terribly sorry   
about what my brother and I did to you, Miss... Rosenberg, I believe you said?" Megumi   
nodded, but didn't step back inside the gazebo. "And I apologize to you as well, Yumi.   
I've been very poor company for the past few years, but I hope to make amends for that   
now." Finally, she glanced shyly at Hiko, wrapping Kenshin's coat completely closed as   
she rose to her feet. "I'm very pleased to meet you, Mr.--?"  
  
"Rupert Hiko at your service, Miss Yukishiro."  
  
The golden fire had left Tomoe's eyes, which now shone only with pale echoes of the   
moon above their dark depths of sorrow. "May I take a closer look at your shoulder? The   
original weapon seems to have been silver-plated, if I'm not mistaken?"  
  
"Yeah," Yumi said, begrudgingly moving out from between her and Hiko "What're you   
doing up so fast?"  
  
"I'm afraid I used the energy from Kenshin's life-force while it was still linked to mine.   
Otherwise, I would never have had the strength to bring myself and Miss Rosenberg here,   
nor heal our wounds. By the way," she added even more quietly, "he loves Miss Kamiya-  
Summers very much." She bent to scoop up some pale slush from the walkway outside.  
  
"Well, duh," Yumi said. "So why are you putting snow onto the boss now?"  
  
"Actually, I believe it's sake-dampened salt."  
  
"Hey!" Yumi knocked it away from Hiko before Tomoe could put more than a dab of it   
into the wound, but its effects were disproportionate to the actual amount. Like iron   
filings jumping into the lines of force above a magnet, the metal splinters popped out of   
his shoulder, reassembled themselves into a fishbone, and dropped neatly onto the   
ground. So did Tomoe.  
  
"Goodness me." Hiko flexed his shoulder. It appeared completely healed, with only the   
jagged holes through his coat and clothing left as a reminder. "I don't know whether to   
hope that she does or doesn't make a regular habit of this sort of thing."   
  
"Whoa." Despite herself, Megumi was impressed. "Hey, Sano," she called out to him as   
he returned, "You just missed the coolest thing ever."  
  
"Did it involve free food and naked women?" He ducked the reassembled fishbone she   
threw at him. "No Enishi, but the other car's still parked down there. Megumi, are your   
parents around? Your stepdad called us at Kaoru's house to come meet you, so they know   
you're here."  
  
"Oh, that would've been from the airport. He and my mom have a medical conference all   
next week and they took Ayame and Suzume with them, too. So at least no one's waiting   
up for me, but it's going to feel a lot creepier staying alone in the house than I thought it   
would."  
  
Hiko gave her an oddly exasperated look over Sano's shoulder. "Presumably the other car   
is completely irrelevant. I propose that all of us set up camp in the gallery for tonight. It's   
reasonably well-protected and supplied, and we can stand guard in shifts if need be. We   
can also keep watch on Tomoe and Kenshin until they revive again."  
  
"Well, as long as they're not going anywhere, they can be the ones to wait here for the   
second trip," Sano suggested, but Hiko shrugged.  
  
"I see no reason why we can't manage everyone in a single run. Miss Rosenberg and Miss   
Yukishiro both ought to fit easily into the back seat of my car, I believe, and Miss   
Komagata and I will take the front. Mr. Harris can follow us on Miss Rosenberg's   
bicycle." Sano did not look grateful at this solution.  
  
Yumi patted Megumi's arm. "Don't worry, it doesn't look like Tomoe's going to freak out   
any more. And if she does before we get there, you can always hit her over the head with   
a fishbone."  
  
"But Mr. Hiko, you forgot about Kenshin."  
  
"Certainly not," Hiko said, bending to lift the limp body. "In his current state, I doubt   
he'll object to being packed into the boot."  
  
---  
  
About fifteen minutes after going to bed, Kaoru realized her bicycle was still locked into   
the back of the car. So much for that idea. Well, it was an awfully long way to walk back   
to the shrine, especially this late at night, so she climbed back into her bedroom window   
and went to sleep.  
  
In the morning, she was already waiting in the kitchen for her mother well before   
breakfast time. Her ponytail was still dripping down the back of her sweater, but she was   
fully dressed and ready to go. "I already had some toaster waffles. Can I get my bike out   
of the trunk and go back to the shrine now?"  
  
"Don't you want to wait for me and Yahiko to come with you? I can help you put on a   
festival kimono if you'd rather wear something nicer."  
  
"That's okay, I'll just meet up with you guys when you get there. I can change into   
something else around lunchtime. Besides, the kimono would get all messed up on the   
bicycle even if I could pedal with the geta, and sneakers would totally clash with a   
kimono." Her mother looked dubious at this logic, but agreed anyway.  
  
It was still pretty early. The streets were practically silent, except for the flurry overhead   
of birds fleeing south in the first hint of daylight. She passed the newspaper boy cycling   
in the other direction through the frost. The shrine's parking lot was completely empty,   
and the only thing on the bicycle rack was a note for her. Well, at least Megumi had   
eventually come back and picked up her bike, so nothing could've gone that wrong, right?  
  
---  
  
Megumi's face was stuck to the floor again, or at least it might as well have been. When   
she looked over her shoulder with the eye that wasn't squashed against the carpet, she   
saw the silhouette of floppy hair points attached to the major land mass that was   
weighing her down. "Sano? Get off me, will you?"  
  
Sano mumbled something incomprehensible, burrowed his head against her butt, and   
then tried to squeeze it around to make it fluffier. "Sanosuke Harris, you cut that out right   
now!" she demanded, with a twinge of regret.  
  
"Huh?" He rolled off her spine, sat up, and blinked at her a few times. "Oh yeah. Feeling   
any better?" Yumi peeked over the counter at them from the main gallery space, waved,   
and pushed two cups of coffee toward their side. "Hey, any donuts to go with that?" Sano   
called back at her as she disappeared back into her room.  
  
"Did anything new happen after I fell asleep in the car?" Megumi tugged at her clothing,   
which wasn't what she'd had on last night.  
  
He shrugged. "We already had to unload Tomoe and Kenshin as dead weight, though   
Kenshin was still a lot deader, so you were like the bonus load. So we put all three of you   
into Yumi's room, and she swapped you out of that suit into a set of spare pajamas before   
rolling you out here. I was going to split up guard duty with her and Hiko, but I fell   
asleep too."  
  
"Oh, okay." They sipped at their respective cups of coffee, occasionally glancing at each   
other over the rims. Halfway through hers, Megumi shyly added, "Hey, Sano? You were   
really brave last night. I mean, I didn't get to see most of it, but attacking Enishi by   
yourself with nothing but fishbones, after you'd already seen him take Hiko down-- brrr.   
But I'm glad you didn't get hurt."  
  
"Me too." When Megumi stuck her tongue out at him, Sano hunched his shoulders down   
in embarrassment. "I didn't mean it that way. I'm glad you're okay too, after all the stuff   
Hiko said you went through from practically the whole Yukishiro family."  
  
She shivered at the recollection. "Well, 'okay' can be kind of relative, but I survived it,   
anyway. Do you think Kaoru's here yet?"  
  
"I don't hear her anywhere. Unless that just means she's with Kenshin, and in that case   
Tomoe and Yumi probably wouldn't still be in there with them. Maybe some of them are   
talking to Hiko? It's pretty weird how much Tomoe looks like him. Think they're   
related?"  
  
"Probably everybody's related in Okusofodo. Isn't she supposed to be something like   
Kaoru's umpty-great aunt, for that matter?"  
  
By way of reply, Sano's stomach made an amazing wildlife sound. Megumi poked him.   
"Yumi's taking an awfully long time with those donuts," he complained. He sorted   
through his jacket before locating some flattened packets of snack food. "Here, have   
some Pocky sticks or something."   
  
"I wonder what's keeping her?"  
  
"Want me to go check?" Sano craned up over the counter with a candy bar still sticking   
out of his mouth, but Megumi shook her head.  
  
"That's okay, I was just wondering. Hey, you have chocolate all over your face already.   
Jeez."  
  
"I do not. Where?"  
  
"Hey, don't do that, it'll just get all over your clothes. And that was the wrong side   
anyway."  
  
Guiltily, Sano lowered his sleeve. "Well, how am I supposed to know where it is?"  
  
She leaned closer to point it out. "It's over here, at the corner of your mouth," she said,   
just before they spontaneously agreed that the second course of their breakfast would be   
chocolate kisses.  
  
---  
  
The ceiling of Hiko's car bashed against the top of his head. Blearily, he hunched back   
into the seat and rolled down the window before Kaoru could knock on it again. "Ah.   
Good morning. I see you received our message."  
  
"Why are you sleeping out here in front of the gallery? Did you get evicted?"  
  
"I had intended to remain on guard in case of more unwelcome visitors." Hiko unfolded   
himself out the door, wincing at the pops and crackles of his joints decompressing.   
"Evidently Miss Komagata elected not to relieve my watch. I take it that you haven't yet   
gone inside to see her?"  
  
"Not when I saw you out here first. So what's going on?" Her eyes widened at all the   
weapons that had lain ready on the passenger seat. Hiko's sword and the usual crossbow   
were supplemented by some hastily modified bolts with ofuda wrapped around the shafts   
and fishbone heads jammed on as the points. A glob of sake-impregnated mochi napalm   
wobbled wetly inside a plastic bag. "Whoa. What's all that for? Did everything work out   
with Tomoe and Enishi?"  
  
"Let's join the others now, shall we?"  
  
Kaoru locked her bike to the fence and followed him across the parking lot with the small   
box that had been strapped to the back. "I got you guys some breakfast food on the way   
here. So what happened with Megumi last night? Was she out necking with Sano?"  
  
"If I may say so, Miss Kamiya-Summers, I suspect you are scarcely in any position to   
cast stones in that regard."  
  
She quailed from his raised eyebrow. "Um. Did you talk to Kenshin?"  
  
"Not as such. We were rather hoping you might do that for us." By now, they were inside   
the gallery and down the entrance hallway, in front of the outer door toYumi's room.  
  
Yumi pulled it open immediately, resplendent in her baggy pajamas. Evidently she'd   
remained more alert than he himself had, though the immediate presence of a coffeepot   
must have aided her in that regard. "Hey Kaoru. Sano and Megumi just woke up, so I   
gave them some coffee and came back in here. Tomoe's passed out again, and Kenshin,   
well, you know. Jeez, boss, you look half-frozen. Here, take a blanket."  
  
He accepted the blanket, as well as a cup of coffee and Kaoru's idea of breakfast. Jelly-  
filled mochi balls did not strike him as a particularly successful example of fusion   
cuisine, but as Sanosuke was wont to say, it was food. "I take it that Miss Yukishiro's   
work has remained purely cosmetic, then. It was remarkably imprudent for you to allow   
me to fall asleep on watch. Why didn't you wake me?"  
  
"Tomoe said she checked around for Enishi and Jineh, and they weren't anywhere nearby,   
so I figured it was pretty safe. Besides, it felt like if I knocked any harder on your   
window, I'd break something."  
  
"I see. So there has been no further progress in any direction."  
  
"Not really. You still look cold, you know. Want the other blanket? Kenshin sure doesn't   
need it."  
  
Kaoru had kept her eyes on Yumi's bed the entire time. She remained remarkably self-  
possessed, Hiko thought. But perhaps by this point in her life, nothing could shock her   
much further. "How long has he been like this?"  
  
"He was a lot worse when we found him last night, but Tomoe's gotten him back to this   
point since then. We figured that as far as the rest of it went, maybe he was waiting for   
you."  
  
---  
  
Overwhelmed by the bulk of Kenshin's coat, Tomoe sat slumped against one wall. She   
was pale and slender, and would've looked fragile even without being unconscious. But at   
least she was breathing. Kenshin, though-- after the first horrified glance at him, Kaoru   
had to fight hard to keep herself from screaming out loud.   
  
The rest of his clothing lay at the foot of the bed in a heap of muddy, bloodstained rags,   
with the silver rings of her gloves gleaming dully at one side. Yumi's sheets were tucked   
up over his chest, leaving his arms and shoulders bare. Like his face, they were as pale   
and cool as the surrounding linen, except for the vicious cutwork of wounds.  
  
When Kaoru sat down beside him, the faintly stale smell of raw meat rose up. If she let   
her vision blur, he'd be reduced to an abstract dark red scribble on a white background,   
with nothing left of him except for his hair and the gaping patterns in his skin. "He was   
worse? You mean he was even more dead before? Who did this to him?"  
  
Hiko hefted up Tomoe and carried her out to the main gallery, shutting the inner door   
behind him. Yumi grimaced. "There was some weird psychic cross-wiring between   
Tomoe and Kenshin. So last night, she partially switched her knife to his channel   
somehow so she could kill him with it and cut the link, but it turned neither one of them   
could really die unless both of them did. Almost like exorcism by shinju? But before she   
figured out that last part, she pre-killed him a little more than necessary before she came   
over and let us kill her so he could die too, if that makes any sense. We had to be really   
careful bringing him in so he wouldn't fall apart, but now at least he's mostly put back   
together again. Or at least the damage that's still left on him shouldn't be fatal, just nasty."  
  
"He's been dead since last night? He should be back up by now."  
  
"Like we said, we thought maybe he was waiting for you. Any ideas?"  
  
Gingerly, Kaoru leaned down toward the pillow. She'd teased him about his ear being   
cold last night, but it was even colder now. "Hey," she whispered. "Kenshin, wake up. It's   
me. Wake up, okay? Please? Kenshin?" She tried to shake his shoulder but shied away,   
unnerved by its cool, waxy stiffness. "If-- if Tomoe's back to normal now, maybe he'll   
wake up when she does. So she didn't need his sword to kill him with, just her knife?   
Where is it?"  
  
"Tomoe's knife is gone, just like my naginata. She's gotten up several times already, but   
he's still down. And funny you should mention his sword. It's gone too."   
  
Kaoru stared at her, even more in shock than before. "What do you mean, gone? Jineh   
and Enishi came in again and stole it?"  
  
"Hell if I know. When we got back here, the case was still locked and sealed, just like the   
whole gallery, and Jineh's sword was still inside. But Bats' katana was just plain gone."   
Yumi sat down on Kenshin's other side, her face grim.   
  
"I've been talking to Tomoe a lot tonight," she continued. "Every few hours, she wakes   
up, we try to figure out what's going on with Kenshin, and then she fixes him up a little   
more until it makes her too weak and she passes out again. We came up with this theory   
that we don't really want to believe, but it does makes sense."  
  
"...So what is it?" Kaoru prompted reluctantly.  
  
"It's kind of complicated. But to start with, his sword isn't a picky eater. It turned him into   
Battousai the first time after he killed just some random guy, and these days, all it takes is   
the blood from a fatal wound. And it was cursed to start with, too. The rest of us, we   
started out with ordinary weapons that got converted by demon blood, and they went into   
screensaver mode when Bats turned back into Kenshin. Ordinary human blood wouldn't   
turn ours back on, either. My naginata needed another taste of demon-ade, and Tomoe   
thinks she got mostly reconverted because of backflow through the connection with   
Kenshin. Every time he turned into Battousai again, it was like the Grim Repo Man-- she   
got repossessed a little bit more every time, until killing that creep from the Yoshiwara   
was enough to finish the job. You following me so far?  
  
"When Tomoe and me got reconverted and stabbed with our own weapons, they burned   
up and we got permanently switched back into ordinary humans. But when you stabbed   
him with his sword, it didn't go anywhere and it didn't kill him by itself. Not only that,   
but he can still turn back into Battousai and he's not really normal the rest of the time   
either, since he can survive getting killed in lots of other ways. So it's like he's got a   
piece of demon stuck in him all the time.  
  
"Whenever we smack a piece of silver onto that sword, it burns Kenshin instead, and that   
never happened with any of the rest of us, not even in the old days. When we did the   
temporary ruby transplant to my knife, it came looking for him outside the Akabeko, and   
he popped back up from Jineh having killed him. So his sword, or at least the ruby, is   
kind of a recharging system that goes both ways, right? It can pop him back and forth   
from being Battousai, depending on which end of it he is, and it can bring him back to   
life, but it can also hurt him if it feels like it. It's not just a part of his life, it practically is   
his life.  
  
"Now, all the times you guys have killed us so far, it's been when either you or the boss   
are wearing those nifty silver gloves, like insulation that keeps you guys from getting   
possessed. The demons get sucked back out of us into our weapons but they don't have   
anywhere to go, so they just burn out; otherwise, they'd jump straight into you. But   
Tomoe wasn't wearing anything like that last night. She'd turned her knife into something   
that practically was his sword, or at least close enough that she could fool it into bringing   
her and Megitsune-chan over to him, and then draw enough power out of him to heal   
them both and leave him knocked out. There wasn't anything to stop her from completely   
draining his batteries. But like I said, he couldn't die until she did too, or drowning him in   
the pond would've been enough backup killage." She stopped again.  
  
Kaoru stood up. "No. I know what you're going to say, but that can't be right. He said he   
needed me to get the sakabatou back for that."  
  
"He wasn't counting on a turbocharged miko who could morph both of them together, not   
to mention pull some backup power out of Enishi and download some of her old rituals   
into Megitsune-chan. Kenshin couldn't die until Tomoe did, so maybe when her tanto fell   
apart, his sword did too. But I don't think Kenshin can exist without the sword anymore."  
  
"He can't be dead. Not really. He said he wouldn't let anyone kill him except for me."  
  
Yumi sighed. Her expression reminded Kaoru that the older girl had loved him too,   
though in a different way. "Even when he was Battousai, he always tried to keep his   
promises. But you know how life is what happens while you're making other plans?   
Sometimes death is, too."  
  
---  
  
The crypt was just as unpleasant as Enishi remembered. Rotting leaves and rat droppings   
were strewn all around him where he lay on the floor, and the cracked vault above him   
seemed to be held together with cobwebs and mildew. And yet compared to now, he'd   
been blissfully happy here before, despite the constant concern about keeping Tomoe safe   
from herself and from Jineh. But he'd never have to worry about that again.  
  
They'd taken her from him. He'd never forgive them for that. Never. There was no   
forgiveness left in him, or anything else at all except for the dull torment of having lost   
Tomoe.  
  
It hurt to think about last night, but he couldn't abandon his last memories of her. The   
fox-miko had sent him to the shrine in search of Battousai. Enishi hadn't seen the lizard   
there at all, but he had met Yumi again, and the tall bloke who'd taken that silver-  
wrapped katana from her. And then Tomoe had come to him there, with her lovely eyes   
shining as bright as the sun, and-- no. She couldn't have done that to him in her own right   
mind, not after all he'd done for her. Why, just that evening, he'd fed her the Yoshiwara's   
doorman, and she must have finished off the vixen as well.  
  
She came out to help him hunt for Battousai as well, his brave little dove. But that snake   
found her first and poisoned her all over again, hurting her so badly that she didn't want   
to live any more. That must've been it. Tomoe had been in so much pain that she couldn't   
tell her own dear brother apart from the brat who'd ruined her life, and she'd struck out in   
a last attempt to kill Battousai before putting an end to her own misery.  
  
When her knife had burned into her heart, Enishi had felt as if he himself were dying.   
Better if he had, rather than be condemned to live without Tomoe again. What good was   
all of his work at the Yoshiwara, or the new nest that was already waiting for them, if   
none of it had helped to keep her safe?   
  
Nothing since then had mattered. The sweet-scented shroud of smoke that had wrapped   
him away from her; the sudden, icy impact against the pavement in front of the torii; the   
impossible thunder rolling from the statues at their sides as the stone foxes had snarled at   
him-- he'd simply stumbled away, dragging the sword and scabbard that he'd   
automatically gathered up from the ground beside him. He'd walked all the way around   
the shrine in hope of another entrance, but the walls had remained impervious. He   
couldn't even get near them without being burned again. His hands were still singed and   
blistered, almost as badly as his face. They would heal in time. Unlike his heart.  
  
By the time he'd completed his circuit and returned to the torii, he'd lost any hope that   
had remained. He didn't know whether he'd gotten back into his car and driven here, or   
simply walked back to the old cemetery on his own. It didn't matter. Nothing did.  
  
For the first time, he thought to wonder whether Battousai was even still alive, or whether   
something had happened to him, as with Yumi. Or Tomoe. Tomoe....  
  
He curled up in the corner as she had once done. At his feet, the things he'd brought with   
him lay forgotten in the debris: his watou in its long scabbard, and Battousai's unsheathed   
katana.  
  
-----  
  
shinju: lovers' double suicide; http://www.japanpsychiatrist.com/Abstracts/Shinju.html  
  
"while you're making other plans": John Lennon.  
  
(grateful sob) You like me! You really like me! Frisky caperings of gratitude to all and   
sundry reviewers, even the marginally snarky ones. Hey, a snark is still better than a   
sharp stick in the eye.   
  
Apologies for having taken so long with this chapter. I didn't expect it to take nearly this   
much time, though in retrospect the key factors were defragmenting the Hikogumi so   
they could all get in one place to share information, reassuring Enishi that he wasn't   
going to stay lonely and miserable forever, and overcoming authorial guilt about making   
Kaoru miserable in two parallel works at the same time. 


	18. son of the morning

Don't own no vampire slayer,  
Don't own no Kaoru.  
All I got is a wing and a prayer  
That somebody might review.  
I got the fanfic-writin', rights-disclaimin',   
And where is my hentai goin' blues.  
(twangy guitar fade-out)  
  
Edodale  
By wombat  
  
  
Chapter 18  
  
  
  
After the initial awkwardness of nose collisions and getting lips mashed between her   
teeth and Sano's, Megumi decided that this kissing thing really was pretty nice. She still   
felt mildly dubious about this tongue action Kaoru had told her about, especially   
considering some of the stuff she'd seen Sano put into his mouth over the years, but   
chocolate he'd just been eating would probably go a long way toward alleviating the   
possible horrors of fishbone breath. She was just about to test this theory when Hiko   
cleared his throat above their heads.  
  
Sano's reaction time was usually faster than hers, so he must've been that much more   
absorbed not to notice Hiko immediately. For a split second before her "Eek!" emerged,   
she got some tongue data after all: yup, chocolate-flavored, and weirdly wiggly but not in   
as bad a way as she'd thought. Actually, it made her feel kind of woozledy again, unless   
that was just nervousness about what might happen next.  
  
"I beg your pardon?" Hiko enquired with punctilious courtesy. He extracted a pair of   
fresh handkerchiefs from his pockets and dropped them over the edge of the display   
counter to flutter into their laps.  
  
"Eek," Megumi meekly repeated, and sat back to make enough space between them to   
deploy chocolate-removal measures, as well as decorum recovery.   
  
The only thing Sano did, though, was float up a cocky grin. "You know, it's kind of   
insulting that you look so surprised at us."  
  
"I beg to differ. I am astonished. It is you who have been surprised." Hiko leaned to the   
side to keep Tomoe from sliding off the chair he'd put her onto. "Miss Rosenberg, will   
your presence still be required at the shrine this morning?"  
  
She fidgeted away from Tomoe's general direction. "Well, I was thinking about calling in   
sick for the actual festival, but it might still be a good idea to head back there before they   
start it up this morning. That way we can look around to see whatever we might've   
missed last night, in terms of general cleanup and figuring out what happened to Enishi.   
We wouldn't want him to suddenly beam back into the middle of the shrine once the   
festival's going full blast."  
  
Hiko pulled a box of mochi balls from a coat pocket and set them on the counter. "Indeed   
not. Mr. Harris, would you care to join us?"   
  
Having tilted the box's edge to grab some of the contents, Sano resumed talking around   
mouthfuls of jelly. "Nah. Festivals just aren't my thing. But it would be great if you could   
drop me off partway home, at least if there's enough room in the car. Is everyone else   
going too, or is someone going to stay here and keep an eye on Tomoe?"  
  
"I am hoping that she will choose to accompany us. As for transportation, Miss   
Komagata and Miss Kamiya-Summers have their own, as does Miss Rosenberg. If you   
have no objection to Kenshin or Miss Yukishiro as fellow passengers, then I imagine a   
small detour could be made."   
  
"But what if she doesn't want to go, or doesn't wake up in time? I mean, we need to get   
there before anyone else does. And how is Kenshin doing, anyway?"  
  
"He is still indisposed for the moment, but either he or Miss Komagata can remain here to   
tend Miss Yukishiro, should that be necessary." Hiko restabilized Tomoe's balance on the   
chair before pushing it into the workshop, squeaking away on its wheels. After a brief   
pause, the empty chair came rolling back out as if propelled by the clay-thwapping noises   
that started up behind it.  
  
"There's an extra cot back there for naps. He probably parked her there," Sano explained,   
and snagged the whole rest of the mochi box. "Here, want one? Don't try to take little   
bites out of it or the jelly squirts out-- just put the whole thing in your mouth and chew."  
  
Megumi followed his directions and promptly refused a second mochi ball. While she   
went back to slowly sipping her coffee, he kept scarfing down mochi until Yumi emerged   
from her room. She came over to the counter, peeked down at the eating noises, and then   
sat in the empty chair on the other side, dropping out of the zone of visibility from the   
floor.  
  
Out of politeness, Megumi felt obliged to rise to her feet to maintain eye contact, though   
Sano was staying down to finally wipe chocolate and jelly off his face. "So," she   
ventured, "I guess Kenshin must be feeling better, now that Kaoru's here to cheer him   
up."  
  
With a shrug, Yumi folded her arms on the back of the chair and rested her chin down,   
lightly kicking against the floor to provide some random rotation. Hiko's shoulder had   
reappeared about halfway down the workshop door, near the sound of his pottery wheel   
whirling into action as well. "Let's just say he's not getting any worse."  
  
"Well, if he stays to watch Tomoe, I bet Kaoru will want to stay too. So maybe I can   
borrow her bicycle to get home." Sano stuffed the last mochi ball into his mouth and   
stood up, but Yumi shooed him back from the door before he could take a second step in   
that direction.  
  
"Is everything okay in there?" Megumi asked. "Are they having an argument or   
something?"  
  
"They're awfully quiet in there for an argument, unless she's sulking him out. You know   
the way Kaoru gets mad-- first there's the yelling and smacking upside the head, but after   
that, she can get too upset to even talk, much less move. Either that, or they're just having   
some kissy-face time." Megumi wrinkled her nose up at Sano and kicked him slightly,   
but Yumi's expression didn't change at all. In fact, she'd barely had any expression at all   
since she came out of her room, as if she were trying not to cry.   
  
"Um." Megumi squirmed. "There's a first-aid kit in the patrol box, if someone brought it   
in from Mr. Hiko's car. If you think it might help, I can try to duct-tape Kenshin together   
a little more. Though last time, it was like his body completely rebooted, down to   
restoring chewed fingernails and everything. Did something go wrong this time?"  
  
Abruptly, Sano dusted some mochi powder off his shirt and detoured past Yumi toward   
the exit. "You know, I think I'll just head home on my own. Hand me my jacket?"  
  
Yumi unfolded her arms from over the back of the chair, picked up the lump of denim   
draped across it, and tossed it to him. "You mean this one? What about the thing you're   
already wearing?"  
  
He'd already removed his old jacket and tossed it back to her as he headed out. "Trading   
it in for the new model. It's pretty far gone unless one of you wants to adopt it and get   
Kenshin to patch it back up all pink and girly-like."  
  
"Hey, Sano? Go ahead and take my bike if you want. I'll just hitch a ride with Hiko."  
  
"Thanks-- I'll leave it at your house and walk the rest of the way. See you Monday,   
Megumi."  
  
Both girls watched him leave, and kept staring at the hallway for a while instead of   
resuming their conversation. Back in the workshop, it sounded like Hiko had finished   
dealing with his first lump of clay and shut down the wheel to prepare another one.   
Finally, Megumi concluded, "So it's that bad, huh?"  
  
"Want to take a look?" Stretching, Yumi dismounted from the chair. "Whatever Kaoru's   
trying, I figure it's either worked by now or it hasn't. Maybe if she teams up with you or   
Tomoe, it'll work a little better, but we might as well see how she's doing by herself."  
  
---  
  
She couldn't believe how cold Kenshin felt. It wasn't just the ordinary chill of windblown   
skin that would have quickly blushed back into warmth beneath her touch, but a   
profoundly thorough sensation that soaked all the way through the covers between their   
bodies and down to her very bones. Carefully avoiding his remaining wounds, Kaoru laid   
her cheek down on his shoulder and closed her eyes. "Hey," she whispered. "You have to   
wake up, you know. If you stay dead, you'll miss that test next week and fail history.   
Besides, you never finished knitting that scarf for me, and if you don't get back up and tie   
off the end, the whole thing is just going to unravel. So wake up, okay?"   
  
For a wild moment of hope, she thought his heartbeat had finally resumed. But as she sat   
up to see his face, she heard the soft rhythm again, louder instead of softer. She went to   
open the door. "Oh, hi, Megumi. Sano came to the shrine last night when I was leaving.   
He wanted to talk to you about something?"  
  
"Yeah, I know. He just left." Like Yumi, Megumi edged up on tiptoe to peek over   
Kaoru's head. "Yikes. Well, at least Kenshin looks a lot better than the last time I saw   
him. Is he breathing yet?"  
  
"No. And the way you guys keep saying he started off a lot worse, it almost sounds like   
you found him oozing out the back of a wood chipper."  
  
"At least then we could've just hosed him into a bag and waited for him to crawl out. Any   
change yet? I can't see any from here." Kaoru simply shook her head in response as she   
stepped aside, letting the other two come in. "Well, crap. So in that case, all the   
improvement since last night is still from Tomoe."  
  
Megumi looked even more uneasy from that statement than Kaoru felt. "What did she   
do?"  
  
"Oh, you know. Stuff." With a vague wave, Yumi stepped forward to peel the sheet back   
from Kenshin by way of demonstration.  
  
"Holy kamoley," said Megumi.   
  
"I'm going to talk to Hiko again while you do show and tell, okay?" Still averting her   
eyes, Kaoru made her escape out to the main gallery and back to the workshop, where   
red-hot rakuware was migrating into the familiar barrel of burnt sawdust. Prudently, she   
decided not to interrupt the process. When Hiko finally turned off the kiln and clamped   
down the barrel lid, she cleared her throat behind him. His initial reply was muffled by   
the welder's mask he'd put on as protection against the heat. "What did you say?" she   
asked him.  
  
He removed the mask and set it down on the matching gloves, beside the tongs. "I trust   
Kenshin is in good spirits to see you again."  
  
"Um. Well, he's about the same as before."  
  
"In that case, I'd like to have a word with both of you, if you don't mind." He was already   
leading the way back out.  
  
"Fine with me. But you know, that only averages out to a third of a word for each of us,   
though really more like a half-word right now since Kenshin won't be needing his." Her   
voice broke, making Hiko stop in the doorway. He turned toward her as she continued   
even more shakily. "I meant he's about the same as before I got here. Yumi says she and   
Tomoe think it might be kind of a permanent thing for him this time."  
  
"Nonsense," he said, though even he sounded startled. "He may have been very gravely   
injured, but surely he couldn't have been killed even temporarily without his own sword   
or the sakabatou."  
  
"Well, it made sense when Yumi told me about it, but I can't really explain it back to you   
because I was trying not to listen to her. She and Megumi are in there poking at him still   
being dead, so if you want to go talk to them about it, there they are, even if his sword   
isn't."  
  
"I beg your pardon?" He stepped back into the workshop to tower straight over her.   
Kaoru suspected that if she'd been one of the boys, he would've picked her up by the   
collar as punctuation.   
  
"Sword. Kenshin's. Gone. Or that's what Yumi said. You didn't know?" It certainly didn't   
look like it.  
  
"Once we'd removed all the passengers from my car, I returned straight there to stay on   
guard. Would you be so kind as to remain here with Miss Yukishiro?" He was talking to   
her over his shoulder while heading back across the main gallery space, not leaving her   
with much of a choice, so she looked around the workshop to figure out where Tomoe   
was. There she was, on a stark cot against the back wall, rolled up in Kenshin's coat and   
nearly motionless. Kaoru still would've given anything right now to see Kenshin himself   
breathing that lightly, though, or at all. What did Hiko expect her to do with Tomoe,   
anyway?  
  
Kaoru sighed and sat down on the floor. Like the cot frame behind her, it had absorbed   
enough heat from the kiln to reach a reasonably comfortable temperature. She'd taken off   
her own coat when she arrived and left it in the other room, but she certainly didn't need   
it in here. In fact, she wondered if Tomoe might be too warm from the extra layer, but if   
it was, it wasn't bad enough to wake her up.  
  
She could hear Hiko talking with the other girls now, but Yumi's door muffled the sound   
too much for the actual words to carry over. Tucking her head down onto her clasped   
knees, she closed her eyes again and waited for someone to fetch her.  
  
---  
  
"I told you," Yumi protested, "I tried to wake you up, but you were already out cold. Any   
colder and you would've been like him." She jabbed her thumb at Kenshin's body. "Look,   
I'm sorry Tomoe and me didn't think about his sword sooner, but if you knew you were   
that wiped out from fighting Enishi, you should've let me take the first watch instead."  
  
"Miss Rosenberg, what do you make of this?" Hiko's eyes were still narrowed, though the   
virtual thundercloud seemed to be breaking up.   
  
Megumi unsquashed herself from her attempt at invisibility against the wall. "Well, the   
general idea seems to make sense. But it's funny that nothing got left behind. I mean, I   
could see the ruby going poof with his sword, but what about the other two jewels that   
were still on there with it? Are they gone because Jineh and Enishi are dead now too, or   
did they zap back to their own weapons? Or actually, Jineh's sword didn't get its amethyst   
back, but it didn't disappear either, so something weird is definitely going on."  
  
"We had best return to the shrine as soon as feasible."  
  
"Since the kid already took off, that just leaves us three. Or four, if Tomoe's awake yet. I   
figure Kaoru's going to want to stay here with Kenshin, right?"  
  
"Where is she right now, out in the main room?" Megumi quickly asked. As soon as Hiko   
walked in, a distinctly crackly vibe had started up between him and Yumi, and she   
wanted to get out of there.  
  
"She and Miss Yukishiro are in my workshop."  
  
"Oh. Well, I'll go ask her anyway." She darted out, but then just loitered in the main   
gallery space for a few minutes while collecting her nerve enough to get anywhere near   
Tomoe again. When she felt ready, she tiptoed into the back room, but she didn't hear or   
see anyone at first. Tomoe hadn't taken off again, had she? "Kaoru? Are you in here?"  
  
"Megumi?" Sitting in the rear wall's shadows, Kaoru raised her head from her knees and   
wiped a sleeve across her face. "Is Kenshin any better yet?"  
  
"Well, no, but Mr. Hiko thinks we should go back to the shrine pretty soon. Do you and   
Tomoe want to stay here or come along? And where is she, anyway?" Megumi had been   
about to sit down on the edge of the cot, but suddenly changed her mind when Kaoru   
pointed over her shoulder at Tomoe lying in the middle of it. "Okay, so she's not going   
anywhere either, but how about you?"  
  
"My mom's expecting to meet me there, so I'd better go. Are those Yumi's pajamas you're   
wearing?"  
  
Self-consciously, Megumi looked down at herself and tugged at the baggy tee-shirt.   
"Yeah. Maybe I can get Mr. Hiko to make a detour to my house so I can change into my   
own clothes. And feed Kei. Without anyone else around since yesterday, he's probably   
shredded my room into kitty litter by now. I'll probably have to scritch his ears until my   
fingers fall off to get him purring again."  
  
If Kaoru was wondering what had happened to Megumi's clothes from yesterday, she   
didn't ask. She stood up, but then just blinked at Kenshin's coat down on the cot and   
sniffled again. Megumi tried to distract herself from her own case of nerves by cheering   
her up. "I bet Kenshin will be okay eventually. Maybe that's just how it works-- every   
time one of the others gets neutralized, his time-out gets a little longer. And even if he is,   
well, you know, at least you won't've had to kill him any more." Kaoru looked up at her.   
"Uh, forget I said that part. Come on, I think Sano left behind some chocolate, so let's go   
get revenge on him for always mooching our desserts at lunchtime."  
  
Obediently, Kaoru trooped behind her into the gallery again, and sat on the floor with the   
same blank stare. Still worried about her, Megumi perched on the chair and rummaged   
through the pockets of Sano's old jacket until she found another candy bar. She passed it   
to Kaoru, who unwrapped and nibbled it with as little enthusiasm as if it had been a   
particularly dubious cafeteria burrito.   
  
By this point, Megumi wasn't hungry herself, but she kept going through Sano's jacket   
anyway, wondering if all of the stuff from inside its pockets might pile up bigger than the   
jacket itself. A small knife, some half-whittled wooden fishbones, more candy, pencil   
stubs, his set of lock picks, a book of matches, loose change-- the inventory never seemed   
to end. Meanwhile, she'd left the door to Yumi's room partly open, so while she hadn't   
been planning on eavesdropping, the conversation inside kept floating out through it   
anyway.   
  
"Boss, I really think you guys should wait for Tomoe to wake up before you go."  
  
"Unfortunately, I don't believe our schedule can accommodate much more delay. If she   
revives within the next hour or so, then we'll bring her with us when we return to the   
shrine. If not, I would like you to remain here with her and Kenshin, if you have no   
objection. Perhaps Miss Kamiya-Summers might keep you company."  
  
"I still have to debug our site's search engine anyway, so I'm fine with staying. But   
Tomoe's got the best chance of any of us to straighten this mess out without anyone else   
getting hurt the way you did last night. You could've gotten killed, you know."  
  
"Miss Komagata, I assure you I will do my best to prevent further injury to any of us,   
including myself."  
  
Still trying to engage Kaoru's attention, Megumi poked her arm. "Hey, ever notice how   
Hiko calls all of us by our family names now, except for Kenshin? Did he decide one day   
that the rest of us are all grown up, or did he figure he'd better stop being on a first-name   
basis with us before we started calling him 'Rupert'?"  
  
The response was hollow and meandering, but at least Kaoru was talking again. "Kenshin   
doesn't really have a family name any more, not since he was disowned. He noticed the   
name thing too, though, and he thought the switchover probably happened after Yumi   
moved in here. Something like if Hiko kept addressing us by our personal names, he'd   
probably have to do the same thing with Yumi since she's pretty close to our age, and   
Kenshin didn't think Hiko wanted to get that personal with her. Or at least, he didn't think   
Hiko would think it would be proper with her living here and working for him. So if he   
calls us Miss and Mr. Whatever and we're younger than her, that's all the excuse he needs   
to keep holding her off by calling her 'Miss Komagata' instead of 'Yumi'."  
  
Cautiously, Megumi gave the conversation a booster shot. "The funny thing is, Kenshin   
does almost the same thing, only different. It's always 'Mr. Harris' and 'Miss Megumi',   
but he never uses any formal titles at all for his old gang. Is it because he doesn't respect   
them anymore?"  
  
Kaoru shrugged. "I asked him that once. He gave me that 'oro' look and said he just   
couldn't think of them on a formal level after everything they'd been through together.   
And especially with Yumi and Tomoe, that covers a whole lot of ground." She clammed   
up again, in an even more stressed way than before. Guiltily, Megumi followed suit and   
went back to emptying Sano's pockets.   
  
After offering Kaoru a sticky packet of formerly hard candies, Megumi excavated the   
fossilized remains of a peanut-butter sandwich and gingerly shoved it to the far edge of   
the pile while still half-listening. Yumi and Hiko didn't seem to've overheard them out   
here, and the audible tension level had definitely improved since when he'd first walked   
in before. "I still don't think it's a great idea for you to head back without Tomoe," Yumi   
said, almost apologetically.  
  
Hiko sounded unusually subdued as well. Megumi could almost see the library desk   
materializing in front of him. "Nor do I, but it's the best we can do for now. Perhaps that   
will be just good enough."   
  
"I really hope so. I mean, okay, you are pretty good at the fighty stuff-- I don't think I   
ever saw anyone except for Bats hold out that long against Enishi in the old days, at least   
once he got serious instead of playing around-- but I still worry about you anyway."  
  
There was a pause, a rustling noise, and an indrawn breath. "Miss Komagata, while I   
appreciate your concern, it is perhaps somewhat unseemly for you to take such a personal   
interest in my own welfare. After all, there is a common amount of risk that affects each   
one of us, and--"  
  
"Oh, unseem this."  
  
Kaoru's eyes snapped into focus again as she and Megumi exchanged silent wide-eyed   
speculation. That had sounded like a body-block, with the muted impact of hurled weight   
and a low oof from the target. And that wasn't the sound of smooching, was it? Kaoru got   
up and headed for the exit, but Megumi scooted her chair to block her, if only to hand her   
the latest thing she'd pulled out of Sano's jacket.   
  
The fishbone pendant was tangled in its chain, a labyrinthine whorl of silver. "Here," she   
said quietly. "I guess Sano stuffed it into his pocket on our way back, after I fell asleep. I   
think Tomoe must've left it with me last night, because Kenshin wouldn't've done that. He   
gave it to you, and you'd better take good care of it.   
  
"And you have to keep taking care of yourself too, okay? He wouldn't want you to be so   
sad about him that you can't do that anymore, you know that. At the least, if you leave   
without your coat, you're going to catch a cold. Where is it, anyway?" Wordlessly, Kaoru   
glanced toward Yumi's room. "Oh. Well, I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you borrowed his   
instead. Why don't we go unwrap it off Tomoe? It sounds like it's time to wake her up   
anyway, so maybe that'll do it. And after that, you can go on ahead to the shrine, and I'll   
come meet you there whenever Yumi decides Mr. Hiko is ready to leave."  
  
---  
  
Kaoru breathed a sigh of relief as the shrine parking lot came into sight from the road. It   
was still empty, so she and the others wouldn't have to worry about sneaking around   
other people while looking for more leftover stuff from last night. Just as she started to   
relax, though, a car came up from behind, passed her bicycle, and then stopped. The   
driver's window rolled down, and her mother craned out at her. "Kaoru? I thought you   
said you were coming straight here, at least an hour ago. Where have you been since   
then?"  
  
"Um, hi Mom. Where's Yahiko?"  
  
"He decided he'd rather go to a friend's house to play with whichever card set they're   
collecting now. But you didn't answer my question."   
  
"Can we get all the way into the lot first?" She zipped down the rest of the entrance lane,   
but by the time she got to the bike rack to take her helmet off and put her locks on, Joyce   
had caught up and parked nearby. She opened her door and stood behind it with that   
patient look that Kaoru recognized as the signal to get into the car herself, right now. She   
did.   
  
As soon as the doors closed on both of them, Joyce gave the key a half-turn to keep the   
heater running. Kaoru winced. This was going to take a while. "Didn't you say you were   
coming here to meet your friends? It doesn't look like they're here yet. At the least, Dr.   
Gensai said yesterday that he and the rest of Megumi's family were going out of town, so   
she would've had to ride her bicycle to get here. But it isn't on the rack."  
  
"Well, no. Actually, I think she's hitching a ride with Mr. Hiko this morning."  
  
"Mr. Hiko certainly takes quite an interest in your group. Will he be driving Kenshin here   
too, as usual? He left his bookbag behind at our house last night, so I brought it along   
with me."  
  
Kaoru tried very hard not to fidget. It didn't work. "Kenshin isn't feeling too good, so he's   
staying home. I went to visit him first, but something got spilled on my coat, so that's   
why I borrowed his."  
  
"Was this before or after you climbed down the trellis from your bedroom window last   
night? You left footprints on the siding." Her mom's voice was still soft and gentle,   
maybe a little too much so. "Honey, is there anything else you want to tell me right now?   
Because I think that it's about time we had a talk about something very important."   
  
"Do you mean right now as in now now? Because I don't know if this is a really good   
time for this. Can it wait until we get home?"  
  
"No, I'm afraid it really can't." She was absently rubbing the square gem of a ring Kaoru   
didn't remember ever seeing her wear before. "Your father and I had planned to talk to   
you about this together when you were a few years older, but so many things have   
changed lately, and you've had to grow up so fast. And I've been a little selfish too,   
keeping to myself with the excuse that you and Yahiko would come talk to me if you   
needed to. But I don't think we can keep up that level of privacy any more and still stay   
together as a family. Are you sure there isn't anything you want to tell me? Because   
otherwise, I'll just go ahead and start." She paused, but Kaoru couldn't think of anything   
to say.  
  
After more uncomfortable silence from both sides, Joyce continued, "All right then. This   
situation with Kenshin-- he's a very nice boy, and I don't think he would ever deliberately   
do anything to hurt you, but I don't want you to rush into something you're not ready for,   
especially if you're completely unprepared. You do know what I'm talking about, don't   
you?"  
  
"Mom, it's not what you think. At least not all of it. He's been really sick, but now it's   
gotten a lot worse that usual, and I don't think he's ever going to get better." Kaoru   
choked back a sniffle, then let another one get by for the sake of strategic diversion.   
  
"It isn't contagious, is it?"  
  
"Not from anything we've been doing." That hadn't sounded too bitter, had it?   
  
If it did, her mother seemed to misinterpret its direction. She sighed. "I'm sure you think I   
can't possibly understand any of this myself, but I remember when Koshijirou and I   
started dating-- did he ever tell you how we first met?"  
  
"It was your first year at UC Edodale and you were out for a walk when a dog tried to   
bite you, but he came by and chased it off, right?"  
  
"I had a feeling he would've left some things out."  
  
This was getting squirmier by the second. "Mom, I think that's actually the exact level of   
detail that's on a need-to-know basis for me, if you know what I mean. I really have to get   
up to the shrine and take care of some things for Megumi, so if--"  
  
"Kaoru." The way her mother said her name made her flinch away from the door handle   
and fold her hands in her lap. "This is important, and I want you to hear this. That night   
when I met your father, I was actually out on a date with someone else. And Koshijirou   
didn't just chase off the animal that attacked me. He killed it."  
  
"Whoa," Kaoru said, startled out of her embarrassment. "I never would've pegged Dad as   
a puppy-killer. So your other boyfriend just wussed out and ran away?"  
  
"Not exactly. You see," Joyce said, and laid a hand on Kaoru's shoulder, "it turned out   
that my date for the night had been a werewolf."  
  
---  
  
The crypt's silence was broken by the shuffle of footsteps through the debris. "So it is   
you. What're you doing back here?" The familiar growl was punctuated by a toe-nudge in   
the ribs. Enishi stared blankly at Jineh's boots until one of them kicked him out of his   
semifetal curl and onto his back, sprawling his long coat open.  
  
Jineh didn't look very well himself. Beneath the familiar shadow of his hat, both eyeballs   
were filled with the ghastly black of curdled blood, and framed by a jagged piecework of   
scars. As he leaned down, only a brittle tangle of bone emerged from the end of his right   
sleeve. Before it could touch him, Enishi whipped his arm up from under his coat. Jineh   
leaped nearly out of reach, but not quite. Even sheathed, the watou snapped his leg to the   
side, leaving splinters of bone protruding at an awkward angle.  
  
"Damn you, I just got these boots." With a vexed grimace, Jineh leaned against the wall   
to massage his shin back into place, then reclaimed the sword he'd briefly set aside. "I   
thought I heard you yowling Tomoe's name up here. I haven't seen her anywhere since   
you took her off, so I'm not going back on our deal."  
  
"She's gone away from me. Just like Yumi."  
  
"Battousai killed her, too?"  
  
"She's not dead, neither. Saw them both last night."  
  
"You mean he took Tomoe back? That's greedy of him-- he already has a new girl he   
calls his bluebird. Feisty thing."  
  
"Not Battousai. Saw his bluebird girl flying down the stairs last night just as I got to   
where the little vixen said he was hiding, or at least that's who Yumi said she was."  
  
Jineh kicked him again. "You're as bad as Yumi was about not calling people their real   
names. What do you mean, that's who Yumi said she was?"  
  
"Kamiya's girl, I reckon. The little vixen said she has blue eyes, just like her mum. Oh,   
and the fox-miko's some other bint entirely. Rosenberg, that's what she said her name   
was."  
  
"I was talking about Yumi. You saw her last night?"  
  
"Yeh. Bleeding lively, she was. Still has that funny birthmark and all, just below her--"  
  
"She's alive?" Jineh demanded. "Where?"  
  
"Didn't hear me, did you?" Enishi levelled his watou back up. "In the bloody bleeding   
flesh, I said. Yumi's mortal now. We can't get her back, not the way we are now. Nor   
Tomoe. My little dove'll wither away and die without me, and she'll be gone forever."  
  
Jineh pondered this. "Well, I promised to leave Tomoe alone in exchange for the   
sakabatou, and I did. Don't expect me to give it back to you now. I kept saying all along   
you should've made a batch of fresh, pretty flesh-puppets for us to play with instead.   
They'd've been more fun than her." After more mutual glaring, Jineh added, "Battousai   
was bleeding too, when I saw him a few weeks ago. I killed him and everything."  
  
"Killed him? So the fox-miko was lying to me about him being at the shrine?"  
  
"Well, he got better. But I did kill him. And then he got up and tried to return the favor.   
The little bastard didn't even have his sword with him, just a short knife like Yumi's. It   
had his ruby in it, though, so he must've found some trick of moving the jewels back and   
forth."  
  
"That must've been what she meant by saying he didn't have his sword. What a   
weasel that vixen was."  
  
"So," Jineh said after another long glare. "Ready to help me hunt down Battousai?"   
Enishi jabbed at him again, but he evaded the watou easily. "That means 'no', doesn't it?"  
  
"You wanking bloody sod. You've already killed him, you said, and it didn't take. What   
makes you think you'll do any better now, with or without me?"  
  
"This time I won't rush into it without the sakabatou, for a start. Are you sure you didn't   
see Battousai last night?"  
  
"Told you, mate. Nary a single red hair of his, or I would've got a good grip to take him   
apart and dance on the bits."  
  
"Then why was this lying next to you?" Abruptly, Jineh lunged down, skewering Enishi   
with the katana in his left hand. Before the wound's impact fully registered, Enishi only   
felt an instant of scorn-- how many times had they had this sort of pointless argybargy   
before?-- but then the scorn and everything else within him seemed to tear out from their   
roots, drawn up into the ravenous vortex of the blade.  
  
Jineh twisted the katana, casting distorted shadows around the crypt. Pale light swirled up   
and around the black blade, like pain made visible, refracting from the hilt's jewels into   
intense sprays of color: Enishi's familiar sapphire-blue, Jineh's dark amethyst, and   
Battousai's vivid crimson. "Did you make some kind of deal with him to get Tomoe   
back?" Jineh demanded. "You'd act as bait to draw me out, so he could leap out and use   
his sword on me. So where is he? Where are you, you little coward?" he called out.  
  
Only the echoes answered. The light seemed to be waning now, unless it was just Enishi's   
eyesight fading out. But he could still see Jineh's sword-hand recovering the flesh around   
its bones, almost like a bare tree bursting into leaf. And while the sapphire seemed to be   
going dim as well, the ruby and the amethyst seemed to be burning more brightly than   
ever.  
  
Even the pain was leaving him now. Perhaps this was what it was like to die and be   
reborn into life, as Tomoe had. Perhaps it would all be worth it, if he could join her again.   
With that thought, he closed his eyes, only to open them again at one of Jineh's more   
colorful phrases and a searing violet flash.  
  
Cor. The amethyst had exploded, or at least something had happened so Jineh couldn't   
get any more use out of Battousai's sword. It didn't hurt any more either, Enishi realized,   
and shoved it away with a whack from his watou. The katana's blade tore up through his   
ribcage and out through his shoulder, but he didn't care. Well, maybe he'd have to care for   
a few minutes, until his collarbone could patch up enough for him to use that arm. But   
once it did, he decided, he was going to put some major hurt onto Jineh. Maybe Jineh's   
old scars had vanished now, but that just made room for a whole set of new ones.  
  
From the way Jineh was backing off, he seemed to have the same idea. While Enishi   
levered himself up against the wall to finish healing, Jineh turned tail and raced down   
into the tunnels again.  
  
---  
  
"Stupid meta tags," Yumi muttered to herself. She leaned back from the laptop and   
partway into the workshop, shaking the cramps out of her trackball hand. Hiko and   
Megumi had left a half-hour ago and she still didn't see any movement from Tomoe on   
the cot back there, but at least she could expect her to wake up eventually. She was   
gradually losing whatever hope for revival that she'd retained about Kenshin.  
  
For the first few days after she'd revived as an ordinary human, she'd kept expecting him   
to drop his quiet facade and go on a rampage. She'd seen him do that so many times   
before that it seemed inevitable. But she'd tested him the day after he'd met up with Jineh,   
when Hiko and Megumi had stepped out for a break from all the exorcism rituals they'd   
been dumping on him in the school's mini-dojo. When she'd pressed up against Kenshin   
for a good kiss, his only response had been a rather dazed "Oro?". After that, she never   
tried anything on him again. It freaked her out too much. But he was still a sweet kid, as   
long as she managed to avoid thinking about him as Battousai.  
  
Through all the chaos they'd spread throughout the city in the old days, Battousai had   
protected her as her father hadn't. Not in a smothering way that made her feel like some   
kind of useless thing, the way Enishi got sometimes, but letting her fight for herself,   
teaching her all kinds of new skills, and if she really needed it, stepping in to tip the odds   
just enough for her to do the rest. She missed that, as well as some of the other things   
they'd done together. Okay, not the random killing, but the sense of freedom from   
boundaries, a sense that she'd never be trapped in a cage again. Oh, and the scromping.   
Man alive, Bats had been good with the scromping. Maybe he was saving that for Kaoru   
these days, but the girl probably didn't know how lucky she was. Or maybe had been. If   
Kenshin couldn't be bothered to wake up for Kaoru, what were the chances he'd do it at   
all?  
  
She sighed. Well, at least she was making progress with the site code. And maybe with   
Hiko. In some ways, the boss gave her the same sort of vibe as Battousai had, though he   
was sure to be a lot heavier. And he definitely seemed interested before he left, even if   
she hadn't gotten to demonstrate any of the techniques she'd dusted off for Enishi last   
night. She'd have to wait until he got back to see what would happen next, though.   
Possibly just digging a big hole behind the parking lot and putting Kenshin into it.  
  
As she zapped the screensaver, an electric crackle came from behind the laptop. "Oh,   
crap," she growled, but the screen display came up intact. There wasn't something funny   
going on with the surge protector, was there? She saved her code, just in case, and then   
started checking all of the cables and auxiliary gadgets.  
  
There was a whiff of ozone on the other side of the counter, but it didn't seem to be   
coming from anywhere near the computer. In fact, it seemed to be drifting from some   
distance away. The boss hadn't burned out his pottery wheel or anything, had he? She   
followed the faint scent away from the workshop and along the wall, until she was   
standing in front of the sword case. A quick glance showed that Jineh's sword was still   
there, but Battousai's hadn't come back, so there wasn't any reason for anything weird to   
be going on in there. Maybe she was just brain-fried from an overdose of PHP.  
  
She was about to turn back toward the counter, but a shoulder-tap from the opposite   
direction made her twist around so quickly that her legs just coiled up beneath her,   
dropping her onto the floor. From that vantage point, she had an excellent view of one of   
her pairs of cropped jeans, except on shorter legs that dropped the hems closer to full-  
length over a pair of shredded pink socks. Relieved, she said, "So you got up after all?   
Kaoru's going to be pissed that you waited until she left." Her gaze moved up over Sano's   
torn jacket, one of her tee-shirts, and the tail-end of a dark red topknot before finally   
meeting Battousai's burning eyes.  
  
-----  
  
surprised/astonished: attributed to various lexicographers (Noah Webster, Samuel   
Johnson, or Emile Littre), but certainly not my own invention.  
  
I have no idea why this chapter took even longer than the last one. My brain cell was on   
strike for most of the month. Burble. 


	19. the cat came back

Kenshin and Buffy belong to Watsuki Nobuhiro and Joss Whedon, not me. Honest.   
Would this face lie to you? ^_^;  
  
Edodale  
by wombat  
  
Chapter 19  
  
  
Kaoru stared at her mother, who was sitting at the other side of the car seat as if they   
weren't talking about anything weirder than an overdue library book. The reassuring   
squeeze to her arm just heightened the sense of unreality somehow. Weakly, Kaoru   
repeated, "Werewolf?"  
  
"There wolf," Joyce instantly replied, then shook her head with a wry smile. "I'm sorry, I   
couldn't resist. I'm not sure if 'werewolf' is really the right word for what happened to my   
date that night, but it's the shortest way to explain things."  
  
"Could you maybe tell me one of the longer explanations?"  
  
"All right, I'll try." Settling back behind the steering wheel, Joyce leaned against the   
headrest. Outside the windshield, sunrise was warming the shrine's entrance torii from   
frosted shadow into fiery red. "Uzuki Walsh wasn't really my boyfriend, just the teaching   
assistant for a class I'd taken that fall. His graduate advisor wanted him to study some   
possible links between old legends and astronomical observations, so he'd spent winter   
break doing research near Okusofodo.   
  
"He wanted me to help retranslate some of the documents he'd brought back, and in   
exchange, he'd buy me dinner. I'd heard that he'd proposed to an exchange student at the   
end of the previous semester, but he said she'd turned him down and this wouldn't be a   
real date anyway. So that morning, I met up with him at his study carrel in the library,   
where he had an enormous pile of papers and scrolls to wade through. He was on his best   
behavior and didn't try anything funny all day, so everything went smoothly until we left.  
  
"The shortest way to the restaurant was through a park where people had been finding   
dead animals recently-- squirrels, rabbits, a few cats. There were all sorts of explanations,   
ranging from a rogue coyote to ritual sacrifices by Dungeons and Dragons players. But in   
general, campus security had been saying that since all of those animals were pretty   
small, students shouldn't worry much about getting attacked. So I wasn't too worried   
when we set out, at least not about that.   
  
"I was a bit suspicious about Uzuki's plans for the evening, since he'd given me a   
necklace just before we left the library. He said it was just a small souvenir he'd brought   
back from Okusofodo, but it was made from old alloys like shakudo and shibuichi that   
aren't used much anymore. I never did find out if it was an antique. But it was a lovely   
necklace, and it was such a beautiful evening: just that time of early spring when the trees   
have a haze of tiny golden leaf-buds all over their branches, and the color of the light at   
sunset was making them melt into the sky.  
  
"He was a nice boy," Joyce said, and sighed. "He really was. Some of the documents   
were a bit odd, but I thought that they must've been phrased in obscure metaphors, like   
with alchemy. But it turned out that his initial translations had been right all along, even   
if he hadn't had the nerve at first to carry out the exact ritual they described. Instead of a   
human being, he'd sacrificed a dog by plunging a red-hot sword into its heart."  
  
"Ew!" Kaoru blurted. "He wasn't going to feed you Shih-Tzu-kabobs, was he? Or were   
all those dead animals from newer recipes he was trying out?"  
  
"No. But he was still the one responsible, in a way. We were somewhere in the middle of   
the park when the moon began to rise, and so did the dog-spirit that had possessed him in   
revenge."  
  
"Dog-spirit? So he went all furry and bitey and bow-wow woof?"  
  
"Woof," Joyce confirmed. "Between him and the dog-spirit, one of them was trying to   
stop the other from dragging me further into the woods. I don't know which was which,   
but that necklace wouldn't let me escape. It kept tightening as if it were a choke-collar on   
a leash and it would only loosen back up when I followed, until we reached a clearing   
that'd been prepared the same way his documents had described. All I could do was stand   
there struggling for breath while he stoked the fire around the sword. The blade was just   
beginning to glow when your father arrived."  
  
"Dad always did have good timing. So it was time for him to kick some butt, I guess,   
unless he went straight to chopping it off."  
  
"It was a bit more difficult than that. Koshijirou was wearing both weapons of a daisho   
set, but at first he was only using his wakizashi against a full-length katana. At least once   
Uzuki pulled that from the fire, I could move again. I had no idea where we were, though,   
so I just climbed up the nearest tree to get out of the way until they were done."  
  
Kaoru pondered this image. Despite the reputation of martial artists, her father had   
always been the genki emotional parent while her mother was the poised and serene one.   
In fact, that was the way Yahiko and Kaoru always knew they were in big trouble-- Joyce   
looked even calmer than usual, and would simply withdraw her usual warmth from them   
until they behaved. It was impossible for Kaoru to envision her mother as a panicked   
student scrambling up a tree. After a few seconds, she stopped trying. She prompted, "So   
why didn't Dad use his own katana?"  
  
"He did, once Uzuki was disarmed."  
  
"You mean like literally cutting his arms off?"  
  
Joyce tsked. "Kaoru, really. No, once Uzuki lost control of his own katana, Koshijirou   
sheathed his wakizashi and brought out the sakabatou."  
  
"The-- oh. So it's good against all kind of beasties, not just--" Kaoru stopped herself   
before she could say anything else. Her mother continued as if she hadn't said anything at   
all.  
  
"When he used it, three things happened. The other katana fell apart into dust. So did my   
necklace. And the dog-spirit came howling out of Uzuki's body. Koshijirou helped me   
down from the tree and back out of the park, and we never saw Uzuki again."  
  
"Not even in the obituaries?"  
  
"Your father didn't wound him that badly. We left him unconscious, and I suppose that   
when he revived, he left town. I didn't want to know anything more about him." She   
squeezed Kaoru's shoulder again. "However, I think I would like to know a little more   
about Kenshin. Is something like that bothering him?"  
  
"I don't even know if he likes corn dogs, much less real ones."  
  
Sighing, Joyce shook her head. She reached into the back seat and pulled Kenshin's   
bookbag forward. "You know I don't like to pry, but when I noticed his bag in our living   
room this morning, I needed to look into it to see whether it belonged to him or   
Sanosuke. The first thing I opened was his journal. I didn't read more than a few lines,   
but why is he so desperate for the sakabatou?"  
  
In an odd mixture of panic and huffiness, Kaoru wondered whether Kenshin thought   
about the sakabatou and getting killed more than he did about her and still being alive.   
She stalled for time to gather her thoughts. "So I guess you know about what it does."  
  
"It would've been difficult not to notice. But when he proposed, Koshijirou told me its   
entire history. He didn't have to use it very often, but every time he did.... I don't know if   
you remember when you were four, and he came home with a lot of cuts and a broken   
arm-- that wasn't a car accident, that was a kitsune-woman on the loose. And over the   
years, other people had tried to take the sakabatou from his family for their own   
purposes. So if I married him, I'd have to accept the risk that someday, it might get him   
killed. I never thought it would really happen. But it did."  
  
Her father's favorite advice had always been to live every day as if it were your last,   
Kaoru remembered. So that was why.  
  
"After those murderers attacked, the only bit of hope I could salvage was that your   
father's family had done the best it could to defend the sakabatou. Now that it was gone,   
the burden wouldn't have to fall on you or Yahiko. But now Kenshin wants to help you   
get it back somehow. I suppose that if it can be done, you have to. But were his parents   
killed by something supernatural? Or is he in danger of being possessed?"  
  
Kaoru fixed her eyes on the bookbag. She'd seen Kenshin sew it together from pieces of   
worn-out jeans. She'd made him spill soda onto it by smooching him unexpectedly. One   
of her old hair-ribbons was fraying out of a textbook, where he'd marked the last chapter   
that would be covered in the history test on Monday. And the bag, his coat, and the   
tangled necklace in her pocket might be all she'd ever see of him again. "You said that   
Dad told you about the sakabatou's whole history?"  
  
"Yes, he did. Do you want me to tell it to you? I don't know if that will help find it now,   
though. Or do the two of you already know where it is? The people who took it are   
dangerous. You shouldn't go after them alone. Even if Mr. Hiko helps you, he might not   
know what to expect."  
  
"That isn't really the problem right now. Kenshin might not need the sakabatou after all,   
so I don't know if we still want to get it back."  
  
"But what's wrong with him? You said he's not feeling well, but that isn't all there is to it,   
is there?"  
  
"No." Kaoru took a deep breath. "See, he's had this bad case of being Battousai."  
  
---  
  
  
As the kiln cooled, so did the room around it. The cloud of burnt sawdust faded from   
around the raku-quenching barrel as drops of condensation formed on its surface.   
Muffled pops and clicks issued from the sawdust inside as the freshly-baked pots   
contracted within their glaze. Before leaving, Megumi had spread out Kaoru's coat on the   
cot below the window. Tomoe lay there, shivering.  
  
Kenshin's lined parka had been warmer, but she was unaware of her immediate   
surroundings. All of her senses were turned elsewhere, seeking him. She'd tried to restore   
his body back to health throughout the night, but it did no good without his soul. Where   
had it gone? Had it escaped at last, or was it still trapped somewhere beyond her reach?  
  
A faint shadow in the spirit-world showed where his body lay. Wrapping herself around   
it, she felt the lingering traces he'd left behind, and tried to follow them outward. She   
reached further into the void. Around her, the endless dark whispered like falling leaves.   
She would need markers to find her way home, so she painted a landscape around herself:   
before her feet, nothingness; behind them, a track of snow.  
  
There-- a hint of where he'd gone, a carved hairpin, caught in a flowering vine of pearl,   
frost, and ash. When she touched it, it burned, forming a filigree of flame and shadow   
before vanishing in the wind. The smoke blew forward, toward a distant glimmer.  
  
Water. Metal. Ice. A black lily blossoming from steel blades. Inside the flower, another   
world: the bitter perfume of lightning from violet storm clouds; steel-blue ocean ice   
grinding against itself in brittle thunder; suspended between them, a flurry of crimson   
rose petals melting into blood....  
  
So she'd been right. The allegiance of Battousai's sword had become torn among the   
three men whose jewels it bore. His friends would have to find it and bring it to him.   
Until then, Kenshin's own true self was locked apart. She turned about to retrace her   
steps, but halted when she saw what had risen behind her.  
  
Spread aloft as wide as sunset, wings were beating in the air. Though scaled with flakes   
of fire, they cast a smoky darkness instead of light. A scrap of silk fluttered down from   
them and clung against her sleeve: the bruised petal of an iris-blossom. She could not   
return, or if she could, she would only be trapped as well. She would have to find some   
other way to help him.  
  
Tomoe cast one last look at her body, then released her link to it, and let the wind freely   
blow her where it would.  
  
---  
  
Mesmerized by the fiery gleam of his eyes, Yumi just stared up at Battousai from the   
gallery floor. She'd been lulled enough by the past month or so of mellow Kenshinosity   
that it was a real shock to see him like this again-- not a completely unwelcome one, but   
definitely not something she wanted to repeat anytime soon, either. Assuming that she'd   
have that choice.   
  
He kicked aside the elbow she'd been propping herself up on. As she lurched flat onto the   
carpet, he stepped over her body and onto her hair to make sure she stayed that way.   
Reflexively, she reached for his ankle, but froze from the glance under his arm as he   
reached toward the locked weapons case. "Your sword isn't there," she told him.  
  
"I know." He pulled out Sano's lockpicks from his torn jacket pocket anyway, and went   
to work.  
  
Her smile felt like a plastic mask. "Jineh's sword always sucked. What do you want with   
that piece of junk? It's probably even more useless without his cheap rock."   
  
The case opened. He pulled out the black-bladed katana, tested the balance by whirling it   
from his wrist, and plunged the tip into the floor beside Yumi's head. Uneasily, she   
looked up along its edge, and was astonished to see that the kashira had regained its   
amethyst after all. This was actually a relief, though. Battousai's next words made it plain   
that he'd had the same thought about it that she had, though not quite in the same way.   
"Pity that his amethyst's returned. Otherwise I could've used his sword as an unkeyed   
weapon. Where's that knife of yours?"  
  
She evaded the question, not sure of the answer herself. It was still around here   
somewhere, but he wouldn't be asking her about it if she'd left it in her room with him,   
would he? "Wait a minute-- the last time I took a good look into that case, your sword   
wasn't there, but neither was the amethyst. What the heck is going on, and what took you   
so long to get up?"  
  
After one step back, he crouched down, resting his knees on her shoulders with just   
enough force to keep her pinned. His fingertips on her cheek felt like a cat with barely-  
sheathed claws. "You should know well enough, after the last time you and the little   
vixen played with my sword. It couldn't enter the shrine to wake me after Inari was   
roused. It was stopped at the torii, where Enishi picked it up." As his hair blotted out   
everything else around their faces, she tipped her mouth up toward him by reflex, though   
she didn't know whether he'd kiss her or rip her throat out. However, he did neither. He   
simply nipped her chin before sitting upright, still straddling her torso. "Where have the   
others gone?"   
  
"Back to the shrine." In afterthought, she added hopefully, "The boss took my knife with   
him."  
  
"They can't have been gone for long; his scent is still on you. At least up here." His   
fingertips pressed into the tender flesh just behind her earlobe and stroked the soft line of   
her pulse.   
  
She shivered. "So Enishi has your sword now?"  
  
"No, Jineh does. But not for much longer." He leaned down again to follow his fingers'   
path with his mouth, from ear to throat to the hollow of her shoulder. "The three   
remaining jewels have rather muddled the poor thing. When Jineh stabbed Enishi with it,   
Enishi's life force was drawn into the sapphire, but also through the amethyst into Jineh   
himself. And also into my ruby as well. I suppose the amethyst took on some delusions of   
grandeur and tried to displace it from the kashira. Annoying, really. I can't blame my   
ruby for choosing to hurl it back here instead of bringing the entire sword to me, but I   
won't mind blaming Jineh the next time we meet." He shrugged, sat up again, then   
reached behind him and whisked up the edge of her pajama top. His touch was sinuously   
warm as it slid under her waistband. "Would you like to help me find him?"  
  
"Um. I've got stuff to do around here, and-- ooh."  
  
After a polite interval in which he displayed excellent balance, he bent forward again,   
resting his elbows on his knees and his chin on his folded hands. "Are you sure?" When   
she nodded, an eyebrow arched up, though his cool smile remained unchanged. He   
reached into the jacket and offered her another piece of Sano's property.  
  
She gaped at him. "Bats, you know I love you, but no way am I replacing my naginata by   
turning that into the Swiss Army Knife From Hell. What am I going to do with that,   
corkscrew people's brains out through their noses?" Crap, she'd better not have just given   
him any ideas about finding out if that would work. Especially on her.  
  
Instead, he just returned it to his jacket. "Well then. The boys won't get far in the tunnels,   
and I can sense where my sword is anyway. Time enough to catch them later. But the last   
time you and I met, we were rudely interrupted. Shall I pick up where we left off?"  
  
Oh boy. Or was that "oh boy!"? As Yumi ambivalently punctuated her thoughts, he   
removed his belt, letting a small, familiar object fall away from his waist. He hefted the   
item, unsheathed it, and traced the blade's black edge across her cheek.  
  
"Shame on you for lying to me about your knife," he chided, still smiling. "You are a bad   
girl, aren't you?"  
  
---  
  
Even though the shower was going full blast onto her head, Megumi could hear her cat   
yowling and ricocheting around the house outside the bathroom door. In futile   
reassurance, she called, "Kei, I'll be right back out, okay? I didn't mean to leave you alone   
here last night, honest, so be a good kitty for now?" It didn't really matter what she said,   
as long as he could hear her voice and stop freaking. He wasn't called Psycho Kitty   
Keisuke for nothing, but this morning he was really working to earn it.  
  
When Hiko dropped her off a few minutes ago, Kei had been crouching on top of the   
fence just above where Sano had left her bicycle. The way it was haphazardly leaning on   
its side might've just been Sano's usual style, except that the muddy sneaker prints on the   
sidewalk were farther apart than usual, smeared in a long running pace. Kei always raced   
out through the cat door as soon as he recognized her bicycle through the window blinds,   
and he must've been really annoyed to've mistaken Sano for her. But by the time she got   
home, Kei was just licking his paws in a self-satisfied way, though he'd missed cleaning a   
drop of blood off one ear. As soon as Megumi opened the door of the Hikomobile, he   
launched himself straight into her lap, but she pulled him out with her and fussed over   
him long enough to allow the car's escape.  
  
She'd scooped up Kei and scritched his ears in a concilatory frenzy all the way back into   
the house, and when she finally set him down so she could change out of Yumi's pajamas   
and wash up, he'd collapsed into a purring heap by her toes, even ignoring the bowls of   
kibble and water she'd refilled for him. But once she actually got into the bathroom, his   
routine must've been rudely disrupted again. He liked to curl up in her clothes, but this   
time they wouldn't've smelled right. Not only that, but she'd disappeared from him again.  
  
As fast as she could, she scrubbed the last few shampoo bubbles out of her hair and   
swiped the soap across her skin. Kei really did sound frantic out there, almost as bad as   
back when he'd realized that baby Ayame was going to stay here permanently, making   
loud noises and distracting Megumi's valuable attention away from him. By the time   
Suzume was born, he'd gotten used to the idea, but now his yowl volume was definitely   
turned all the way up to eleven.  
  
Still dripping around her towel, she scrambled out to the hallway. His echoes were   
rattling all over the place so it was hard to locate him at first, but he'd gone to his usual   
sentry post at the front window. His ears were flattened all the way back as he glared out   
at the lawn. She didn't want to take a look through the curtains without any clothes on   
yet, and when she tried to coax him off the sofa, his claws dug into the upholstery. But at   
least he stopped making that noise once he knew that she knew about it, so she let him   
stay there hissing at the glass while she went to her room to get dressed.  
  
She still wasn't sure whether she was going to stay on duty doing miko stuff for the   
festival, but if she did, she'd be changing into her ceremonial garb at the shrine anyway.   
At least the clothes that Enishi had cut to bits last night hadn't been her favorite outfit,   
though she was bummed to lose those shoes after she'd just broken them in. But it was   
cold enough to bring her winter boots back out, so she pulled them on over her jeans and   
added a sweater that was long enough to keep her butt warm, despite the cat-bites   
scalloped out of the hem.  
  
Once she got back to the living room and peeked out, she saw why he'd been so upset.   
Another cat was sitting just outside the gate, with all four paws tucked underneath its   
body, and its tail wrapped neatly around them to keep warm. From this distance, she   
couldn't recognize it, but she probably wouldn't have anyway; most of the neighborhood   
cats knew better than to come around here. It was unusual for one of them to lurk nearby,   
and even more unusual that Kei hadn't charged out and driven it off the same way he'd   
chased Sano. But for the most part, Kei was as close to normal again as he ever was, and   
she had to get back to the shrine to catch up with the others. So after soothing him into a   
trance, she gently disengaged her sweater from his mouth, dusted loose fur off her hands,   
and tiptoed out the door.  
  
When Megumi brought her bicycle back out from the porch, the other cat was still there   
by the gate, as if waiting for her. It was a lilac-point Siamese, with huge midnight-blue   
eyes in the pastel brushstrokes of its face like two black opals on a misted mirror. But   
when it opened its mouth, only a faint whisper of a mew emerged instead of an   
earsplitting shriek. Was it hungry? Lost? She bent down and pulled off her glove to let   
the cat sniff her hand, but to her surprise, instead it raised one paw to touch her fingers. It   
seemed to be well-groomed, and certainly well-behaved, but there wasn't any tag on the   
silk ribbon around its neck, and it was shivering lightly as it sat on the frosty grass. "Are   
you looking for your people? Where do you live, kitty?" She looked around, but she   
didn't hear anyone calling for it. "Well, I have to go now, so I hope you find your way   
home soon, okay? Just don't stick around here, or Kei might try to come get you after   
all."  
  
She mounted her bicycle and headed off, but after crossing the first intersection, she   
heard the screech of brakes behind her. "You should take better care of your cat," the   
driver shouted.   
  
Oh no, had Kei woken up and followed her down the street? When she looked back,   
though, the strange lilac-point was crouching in front of the car with wide, bewildered   
eyes, and Megumi ran back to carry it out of the way. "It's not mine," she began, but the   
driver simply shook his cell-phone at her.  
  
"Then why is it following you?" he demanded, and sped away.  
  
She put it back down on the sidewalk. It sat down exactly as before, gazed up at her, and   
again lifted one paw with a whispered mew. "Is that paw hurt?" It didn't seem to be.   
"Kitty, it's not safe for you to chase me all the way to the shrine, go home." She mounted   
her bicycle again. The cat stood up and began to trot alongside her.  
  
"Oh, drat. Okay," Megumi conceded, and scooped it up into her handlebar basket. "I'll   
bring you along, but after that, I'll check around the neighborhood when we get home. If   
nobody knows you, maybe I can find you a new family."  
  
---  
  
As he pulled out of his parking lot, Hiko glanced into his rear-view mirror and wiped a   
last trace of shaving foam off his ear. After having deposited Megumi at her house to   
freshen up, he'd decided to detour to his flat to follow suit. Astonishing how a brisk   
shower could improve one's outlook on the world, especially when followed with enough   
hot tea and toast to eradicate any lingering traces of jelly mochi. He had been less   
successful in banishing thoughts of Yumi.  
  
Miss Komagata, he automatically corrected himself. "Vivacious" had been the best word   
he could think of to describe her on short notice, but while it was accurate enough, it was   
insufficient. It failed to capture her contradictions: even after her father had shown that he   
valued her less than his swords and armor by selling her to a brothel, she'd chosen to   
preserve the family honor in her own way. The passionate informality she'd adopted there   
had denied her clients the satisfaction of possessing a samurai's daughter, while failing to   
give the brothel owners any other reason for complaint.  
  
And now, Hiko had a certain suspicion that she might be considering him as a substitute   
for Battousai. This made him uneasy on several different levels: his own vulnerability to   
the hellblades; the gymnastic contortions she might require; and his eventual return to   
Okusofodo. The elders' knowledge of her true identity would be inversely proportionate   
to their welcome, and yet he could not remain indefinitely in Edodale and abandon his   
school. Better to spare her the strain of another separation than to attempt even temporary   
solace, surely.  
  
As he turned from the main road toward the shrine, the tire tracks in the frost showed that   
a bicycle and a car had already preceded him this morning. The first would be Kaoru. He   
hoped that the second would not have been Enishi, considering their encounter last night.   
But it was Joyce's car that was parked in front of the entrance torii, and she glanced   
toward him from inside it as he pulled up beside her. However, she simply turned her   
attention back to whatever she'd been doing, rather than offering any sort of greeting.   
And where was Kaoru's bicycle?  
  
Surreptitiously, he fastened his sword beneath his coat before closing the door of his own   
car and walking around to hers. When he tapped on the window, she looked back up, but   
still without any particular expression. From here, he could see what she was doing:   
patiently untangling the chain of Kaoru's necklace from around its fishbone pendant. She   
set it aside and rolled down her window.  
  
"Ah. Good morning, Ms. Summers."  
  
"Good morning, Mr. Hiko," she responded, just as formally.  
  
"Do you know whether Kaoru's already here, by any chance?"  
  
"She went up to the main shrine after she helped me put her bicycle into the back, so I   
imagine she's still up there. May I ask why you're looking for her?"  
  
Glad of the excuse, Hiko pulled out the scarf Kenshin had failed to finish knitting. "I   
believe this is hers. Could you return it to her, please?"  
  
"Of course." Joyce loosely folded it onto the passenger seat, then picked up a much larger   
item from the footwell and hefted it up to the window in exchange. "As long as you're   
here, Kenshin left his bookbag at our house yesterday evening. Perhaps you'd better look   
after it for now. Has he improved at all since Kaoru's visit this morning?"  
  
This was an excellent opportunity to take off his glasses and clean them, he decided. "I   
really couldn't say."  
  
"No, of course not, how silly of me." Joyce took up the necklace again and resumed   
working at it. "After all, why should I think you'd tell me anything about Battousai now,   
after you already let my husband and his students die without a warning?"  
  
---  
  
Jineh crouched in a side-niche as Enishi sloshed past him through the main storm drain.   
Unfamiliar with the tunnel network, the younger man had to rely on the faint light leaking   
down from the access shafts to follow his trail. But after the last encounter with   
Battousai, Jineh had spent more time down here than he cared to think about, blindly   
groping through the muck in search of food, shelter, and the occasional stray organ. The   
brat was still just as cunning and treacherous as ever, so it was no surprise that his sword   
would've been unreliable too.  
  
The echoes faded into the distance. Sliding his feet through the muck to avoid telltale   
splashes, Jineh eased his way around the corner to the nearest dry shaft. He pushed   
Battousai's sword into it before boosting himself up. Getting home this way would take   
longer, but it would be far safer for now.  
  
Once he was well away from the main tunnels, Jineh relaxed enough to resume planning   
his next move as he continued onward. At least Enishi wasn't likely to find his lair and   
take back the sakabatou before he returned. Jineh was fairly proud of having found an   
abandoned pump station up in the hills, surrounded by thick overgrowth that blocked the   
access roads and left the underground pipes as the only easy way in. It wasn't even in   
danger of being flooded now that the river had been dammed, though the long disuse had   
allowed tree roots to snake in and out through the pipe walls.  
  
Rats squeaked and scuttled around him as he crawled through the debris. Rats weren't so   
bad once you got to know them. They were clever and resourceful, and if you didn't roast   
them for too long, they tasted a bit like chicken. Of course, they'd returned the favor by   
eating some of his parts while he couldn't do anything about it, but that was life. He was   
saving the real payback for that brat who pulled them out in the first place.  
  
The brief burst of energy through Battousai's sword had healed most of his remaining   
wounds, but it had only lasted until his amethyst disappeared. Could he recover and   
restore his own gem, or his own sword? Could he pry out the other two jewels by using   
the sakabatou? Or could he just find Battousai and do a better job of killing him this   
time? After all, two swords had to be better than one.  
  
These happy musings faded when Jineh realized he'd gone astray. He couldn't've gotten   
lost, not down here. He knew this place like the back of his hand-- maybe even better,   
considering that he hadn't had much of a hand on one side for a while. In fact, he knew   
exactly where he was, but it wasn't where he'd planned to go.  
  
He was under the Kamiya dojo. He hadn't come this way for months, not since he'd   
brought Enishi and some of his pets to help him get the sakabatou in the first place. These   
tunnels hadn't been used since then, from what he could tell, so he was safely alone. But   
what was he doing here in the first place?  
  
As he contemplated this question, he became aware of a relentless urge to continue   
upward. It was nearly a psychological necessity, like the reflex to draw a sword when   
attacked. The thought of this analogy made the internal pressure increase.   
  
Was his own sword calling to him? Battousai had stolen it, but since it wouldn't've done   
him much good, maybe the brat had simply thrown it away, or given it to that bluebird   
girl he'd been with. Enishi had said she might be Kamiya's daughter, hadn't he? In that   
case, it would've made sense for her to bring it back to the dojo. Maybe she was there   
with it right now, alone and undefended.  
  
Jineh grinned. It was a long way up to the surface, but he had many pleasant daydreams   
to keep him occupied while climbing. Battousai's sword made things more awkward, of   
course; without a sheath for it, he had to constantly shift it around from hand to hand,   
occasionally tucking it under an arm and trying not to cut himself. Gradually, the pale   
wisp of sunlight grew larger and clearer, until at last he was clinging to the last handhold   
below the drainage grate.  
  
He peered up through it, at first staying close to the shaft walls in case anyone might spot   
him. If there were cars parked in the lot, he couldn't see them, though one of those two-  
wheeled contraptions was leaning nearby. The urgency was stronger than ever, nearly   
unbearable. Whoever was here really was alone with his sword, but not for long.  
  
Once again, he shoved Battousai's sword up through the grate ahead of him, freeing both   
of his hands to push the heavy metal grille up and to the side. The black blade skittered   
and sparked onto the pavement as it slid away and out of sight. Jineh had just clambered   
halfway out when the sword caught his eye again, in an uncomfortably literal way. The   
side of the blade pressed up against his eye-socket, forcing him to lift his head toward its   
wielder. It was Battousai again, of course. Didn't that brat have anything better to do?  
  
Well, perhaps he did, judging from the blood spattered over him. It streaked his face and   
speckled his clothing; even Jineh's own sword, which Battousai held in his other hand,   
had a solid red glaze down its blade "You're an excellent delivery boy," he said. "So   
here's my tip: leave Edodale now. If I ever see you around here again, I won't give you   
another chance." He shoved the red-glazed blade into Jineh's heart and kicked him back   
down the shaft.   
  
The grate slammed shut, a shrinking whirl of light above Jineh as he fell all the way back   
down. When he struck bottom, the blade jarred out of his chest. He lay there in a heap of   
broken limbs for some time, weakly waving the rats away again. Days or weeks later, he   
began to crawl back to his lair, sure of his way this time. Throughout the slow, painful   
journey, he kept a firm grip on his newly returned sword until both of them had re-  
emerged. He leaned against one crumbling wall of the pump station, gazing at his   
amethyst. Its violet depths flickered with the reflections of his eyes, which were as golden   
as Battousai's once more.  
  
-----  
  
Wai! I finally finished this chapter! Or at least I think so. Minor revisions may yet be   
uploaded, as always, and especially if Fun With Swords still doesn't make sense to   
anyone except me.   
  
I must've been a lot more bummed out by ff.n's NC17 purge than I'd expected to be. At   
least that's the only excuse I can really come up with for why this chapter took so   
freaking bloody long, as some might say.  
  
Many, many thanks to those of you who kept me afloat during the dark times, especially   
Firuze Khanume and AutumnFire for reassuring me that no, my drafts did not suck. I   
may shift back to FotN5 now, which needs some bits of plot to hold together all the citric   
scrompitudinosity I've already written. Woohoo! 


	20. plaiting a dark red love knot

RK and Buffy ain't mine. Heck, I can't even manage an entertaining disclaimer this time. Neeeed sleeeep. Or caffeine. Or possibly both, though not simultaneously.  
  
Edodale  
  
by wombat  
  
Chapter 20  
  
Megumi thought the lilac-point Siamese from her front yard looked more like a girl than a neutered male, but it was probably still safer to think about her as an it. As their bicycle rounded another corner, the cat leaned sideways to compensate, peeping over the edge of the handlebar basket with its ears up and alert. "You're really such a nice kitty," Megumi told it. "Too bad Kei doesn't like other cats at all, or I bet he'd like you." It turned toward her but stopped mid-motion, tilting its head at a yell from a passing side-street..  
  
"Hey, wait up!" Sano's voice sparked a weird feeling in her, not quite as strong as the dizzy swirl when Hiko had caught them kissing, but somewhere in the same direction. She supposed whether that was clockwise or counterclockwise would depend on which side of the equator. As she braked, he skidded right past them, escaping full pavement wipeout with a wheels-off-the-ground midair twist before bouncily hopping back to the corner on both tires. But when he noticed the cat, he yelped and attempted some evasion maneuver that ended with his shoes dangling from his wheel spokes and the rest of him on the pavement.  
  
"Show-off," she greeted him. "Don't worry, it's not Kei up here, see?" Still quietly perched in place, the cat twitched its whiskers at him on cue. "I thought you went home, or did you change your mind about going back to the shrine again? Inari partytime awaits, so we'd better finish cleaning up everything from last night in there before the festival crowd arrives."  
  
Having disentangled himself from gravity, Sano flexed a bruised elbow and peered into the basket, where the cat did its cute little mini-meow and paw-touch greeting at him. "Yeah yeah, kawaii," he said grudgingly as they started off again. "My parents left the garage open, but the rest of the house was locked up. And by the time I got back to the gallery for my keys and lockpicks, it looked like Yumi already took off on her moped."  
  
"She's supposed to stay back there with Kenshin," Megumi frowned.  
  
"Yeah, well, I figured that Kaoru took over, and I didn't feel like knocking on the door to interrupt."  
  
"But Kaoru left even before Hiko and me."  
  
Sano scratched his head. "So either Kenshin or Tomoe woke up, and Yumi figured she could leave whichever one there to watch the other? I guess we can ask her once we meet up at the shrine."   
  
They were nearly there already, not quite in view but within earshot of some sharp glassy taps. Once they turned the last corner, they saw Hiko standing next to his car, knocking on the window of the only other car in the lot. Inside behind her steering wheel, Kaoru's mom was fiddling with something in her hands but otherwise just sitting there as if he didn't exist. Hiko's voice resonated in a subterranean growl. "Ms. Summers, if you would be so kind as to resume a dialogue on the subject, perhaps our combined efforts might--"  
  
He snapped his head up at them as they wheeled into his peripheral vision. His pre-volcanic cloud gave Megumi an unpleasant flash of deja vu from right after he found out Kenshin's sword was missing. At least Yumi was around to smooch him out of it again, or was she? The cars blocked Megumi's view of the bike rack, so she wasn't sure if Kaoru was here yet either. "Um. Mr. Hiko? Where's everyone else?"  
  
"Miss Kamiya-Summers is already in the main shrine. Are we to expect any further unexpected reinforcements aside from Mr. Harris?"  
  
"Isn't Yumi here too?"  
  
A light haze of steam appeared inside Hiko's glasses, prompting them to be cleaned with disproportionate intensity. "Er. Miss Komagata? I haven't seen her since setting out this morning."  
  
"Well, she wasn't at the gallery," Sano said. The cat pricked its ears at him and meowed again.  
  
Ironically, the cease-fire attracted Joyce's attention. Her car door opened, making Hiko step back very suddenly. It didn't exactly slam shut, but it returned to its frame with a certain emphatic solidity as she addressed Megumi and Sano.. "Kaoru told me everything."  
  
"Um. You mean all kinds of everything, or just--?"  
  
"Oh jeez," Sano interrupted, wincing. "You won't tell my parents, will you?"  
  
"Ms. Summers," Hiko repeated right behind her.  
  
Calmly, Kaoru's mom turned to look up at him. "Unless you can find some way to explain yourself, I intend to contact their parents, their school, and your council of elders back in Okusofodo."  
  
With some relief, Megumi watched the cat scramble out of her handlebar basket and leap down, giving her an excuse to follow it away. It headed toward the entrance torii, jumped onto the pedestal of one of the stone foxes, and meow-touched the statue while Megumi settled her bike into the rack. "You're just saying hello to everyone today. Aren't you the best-behaved kitty?"  
  
As if to contradict her, the cat sprang back off the pedestal and dashed straight up the stairs. Megumi glanced at Sano, who was still fidgeting beside the human cold war, and motioned for him to join her in the great escape.  
  
---  
  
The koi weren't hibernating after all. As sunrise brushed the pond with golden scales, finny ripples broke the bright surface around the gazebo. Kaoru knelt on one of the benches, resting her arms and chin on the railing while she stared out over the water. She'd found a half-spilled box of various sharp things on one of the stair landings, and then several more fishbones among the leaf-drifts in the courtyard. After spreading the leaves around again, she'd come back to where she'd waited with Kenshin yesterday for Megumi's ritual that never happened, or at least not the way anyone expected.  
  
And that was all there was to it, really. He'd told her over and over again what was going to happen eventually, even if he'd been wrong about how. He hadn't needed her for that, or even the sakabatou. But if he was really dead now, then maybe she could start scraping her life back together, probably not into anything that would ever really be normal again but at least looked like it if you didn't check too closely, like homogenized plastic slices of processed cheese food compared to real live cheese. Maybe it was happening already, because if her heart felt any closer to Swiss cheese, it would melt into a fondue.  
  
She wrapped Kenshin's coat closer around her, shivering. The coat itself was warm enough, but it couldn't help with the windblown tear-tracks down her face. Not unless she pulled the hood all the way over her head, just like when they'd been kissing here last night. Miserably, she tucked her nose down into the collar. A few strands of hair were snarled around the top button, where she and Kenshin had gotten tangled while they were trying to unbutton it. Her scalp and mouth both twinged in memory. She closed her eyes tightly and stayed that way for a while, until she heard Megumi's voice coming from the courtyard.   
  
"There she is-- hey, come back here. You better not try to eat the koi. C'mon, kittykittykitty...." This feline invocation coincided with a soft thump onto the gazebo bench, followed by an even softer meow and the barest hint of a touch on her elbow. Surprised, Kaoru looked at the cat as it rested one paw on her arm, meowed again, and leaped up onto her shoulder.  
  
As Kaoru nervously leaned sideways, Megumi appeared with Sano in tow. Although he never used lip balm like the girls always did in winter, his mouth looked suspiciously shiny, with a waft of artificially cherry-scented petroleum product when he spoke up. "Hey, so where's Yumi?" He completely missed Megumi's reaction as he started to poke around in the box.  
  
"At the gallery, isn't she? I thought you went home."  
  
"Been there, done that, forgot the lockpicks. Maybe she just went on a grocery run or something when I went back. Guess I'll have to try a stripped-down fishbone on my front door-- even if it doesn't work, my parents will probably wake up from the noise and let me in. Or wake up, anyway. Maybe."  
  
Kaoru leaned even further as the cat looked into the box from its perch, unfurling its tail for balance. Megumi shook her head. "Typical Siamese. Sometimes they figure their masks give them a dashing piratical air and they try to make like shoulder parrots. Did she say hello to you already?" The cat meowed as if in confirmation and deliberately sat inside the coat hood, sliding it backwards into a hammock and pulling the front opening up against Kaoru's neck.  
  
Still ignoring Sano for now, Megumi added, "She was just hanging out near my house and I didn't want to just leave her there to get hurt or run over. Sometimes when stupid people move, they dump their pets onto the street, but I don't think anyone would do that to a purebred Siamese. She's awfully young, too-- not really a baby kitten anymore, but she's not looking for a boyfriend right now, if you know what I mean." She stopped very suddenly, biting a smear of cherry-scented balm off her lip. "So, um, Kaoru, do you think we need to do any more cleanup stuff?"  
  
"I checked around everywhere I could think of, so we can just take this box and go unless you want to tidy up the booths a little more. Did you get your bookbag from that miko locker room?"  
  
"Not yet. I'll catch up with you, okay?"  
  
As Megumi headed further back into the shrine complex, Sano tucked the box under one arm and followed Kaoru down the stairs. "So what's with her?"  
  
Kaoru gaped at him over her shoulder, awestruck by the power of male obliviousness. "Jeez, Sano, why do you think Megumi might be upset?"  
  
He shrugged. "The Enishi thing, I guess, but actually I meant the cat. Looks like she's found some kind of snack down in your hood."  
  
"She's probably hungry if she's lost."  
  
"I guess. She isn't chewing on it nearly as fierce as your mom's tearing out Hiko downstairs."  
  
---  
  
Delayed by a last-minute fishbone spill on the stairs, Sano rehefted the box in his less hurty arm and returned to the parking lot, where Hiko was still multitasking grim resolve with apologetic courtesy. Or was that apoplectic courtesy? Oh, to heck with those SAT words for now. Either way, Kaoru's mother wasn't buying it. "I'm sorry, Mr. Hiko, but I really don't think there's anything else to discuss. Kaoru, are you ready now? Let's go home."  
  
"But mom--"  
  
"Ms. Summers, may I remind you that--"  
  
Before Joyce could intensify that scary polite freeze-out mode, Sano shoved the weapons box at Hiko, who produced his own Titanic-sinking glare but went to stow it in his car trunk as Kaoru made another try. "Mom, we really need to figure out what happened last night, and maybe you can help us with that. Please? Besides, I have a cat inside my coat hood."  
  
Shaking her head, Joyce repeated firmly, "Let's go home. And you know that Yahiko's allergic to cats, so we can't keep it. Sanosuke, could you please give it back to Megumi?"  
  
"I would, but I've got this allergy to getting shredded into hamburger. Psycho Kitty Keisuke already tried to track out my veins this morning." Sano rolled up his jacket sleeve and flexed his arm in demonstration, bleeding another palimpsest layer into his shirt. He'd been hiding the evidence from Megumi so she wouldn't get distracted into first aid instead of smoochage, which more than made up for the discomfort, but he didn't have nearly as much incentive to go fishing for felines.  
  
Joyce reached into the coat hood herself, but was faced with some civil disobedience as the cat clung to the fabric with its claws. As Hiko rejoined the group, he raised an eyebrow and a semi-helpful hand, but the cat didn't appreciate being lifted by the back of its collar any more than Sano usually did, at least judging by the strangled yowl. Kaoru winced, hands to her ears. Within seconds, Megumi hurtled from the stairs with her bookbag lurching behind her. Sano yanked his sleeve down again before she noticed. "Mr. Hiko, don't do that, you're choking her. Kitty, calm down, no one's going to hurt you," she soothed. "Now come on out, okay?" Tentatively, the cat put one paw onto Kaoru's shoulder, then scrambled out all at once and dropped to the pavement, where it started to make pitiful retching noises.  
  
"I feel your pain," Sano told the cat, as Hiko began to polish his glasses with an abruptly subdued air.  
  
"It's okay, she's just coughing up a hairball." The cat ejected a spongy lump of confirmation and poked at it quizzically. "Kitty, that is not a toy," Megumi sighed.  
  
"Kaoru," Joyce said again, motioning toward their car. Kaoru shook her head. "Kaoru, I know you're unhappy about Kenshin, but if he's truly dead, then nothing can bring him back. And if that means that Battousai is gone forever, then maybe it's best that way. Here, I untangled the necklace he gave you, so let's go home and we can talk about this after we've both had more time to think."   
  
As the silver fishbone dangled in midair, the cat leaped up and snagged the whole necklace onto the ground. "Hey! That is not a real fish, so spit it out. I'll find some real food for you soon, I promise," Megumi coaxed while looking around at the others. "Does anyone have something she could eat? Only no green tea mochi or chocolate for her because caffeine is really bad for cats, and-- yikes."  
  
"Holy crap," Sano echoed. "What the--?"  
  
Obediently spat out, the necklace had landed on the hairball, sending a gout of steam into the air. As the moisture boiled away, a curl of smoke replaced the steam. Hiko kicked the fishbone aside, nearly head-butting Sano as both of them bent to examine the remains with Megumi.   
  
Even all mooshed together and damp, the filaments were obviously too long to be cat fur and their colors didn't match. All three of them looked over at Kaoru, crouching nearby to retrieve her necklace. She yelped in protest when Hiko yanked a few strands from her ponytail, but stopped immediately when she saw their exact match to the hairball, or at least the intact matrix holding it together. The rest of it had half-crumbled into ash, burning the shape of a fishbone and chain from the background of Kenshin's distinctive dark red.   
  
---  
  
Halfway back to the gallery, Hiko glared aside at his passenger. "I do hope my ribs didn't injure your elbow, Mr. Harris."  
  
"Nah, it isn't any worse than my other one. Uh, I mean, sorry." Sano was still watching Joyce's car veer away. "But why are we letting the girls off the hook? It's great to be all manly and stuff, but why do just the two of us get to go back there?"  
  
"Yet again, evidently I have wasted several minutes of my life in attempting to explain this before we set out. Unlike schoolwork, you will not always have the opportunity to copy your classmates' notes. But if I must repeat myself, Miss Yukishiro has already displayed a certain rapport with Miss Rosenberg; if that vulnerability still exists, we had best minimize her role in combat."  
  
"So let me get this straight. We're figuring that Tomoe didn't really kill Kenshin last night or at least brought back Battousai this morning? But if the whole shrine didn't stop Tomoe last night, how is Kaoru's house supposed to be any safer?"  
  
"If Ms. Summers' information is correct, their house has old and formidable protections surrounding it. She also may have more heirlooms akin to the sakabatou. However, as she has not been trained for combat, her daughter had best stay with her as a safeguard. As you have already noted, that leaves only the two of us to deal with the situation."  
  
Sano still wasn't convinced, but somehow felt paradoxical relief that Hiko didn't sound that confident either. "Holy Dynamic Duo, Batman. So what about Yumi?"  
  
Grimly, Hiko said, "You said that her vehicle was gone. If she were fleeing, she ought to have met with us at the shrine. We must surmise that either she was unable to stop them from taking it, or that she also has been affected and went elsewhere." One last turn brought them into the gallery parking lot, which was still as empty as the weapons box in the car trunk wasn't, at least until they finished gearing up.   
  
The gallery door turned out to be even more locked than usual. Sano's pockets clanked with fishbones as he crouched down to inspect it. "Someone snapped off the key, so what's left of it is still stuck inside. I can get it out, but without my tools it'll take time."  
  
"We don't have time," Hiko said, and kicked the door down. The building rang with his battle challenge as he charged into the entrance hall, sword drawn. "Battousai? Where are you?" Reluctantly, Sano charged right behind him, nearly skidding a fishbone into Hiko when he stopped on the threshold of the main gallery room.   
  
The pottery was mostly fine, at least the stuff that was elevated onto pedestals or otherwise tucked out of the way. But from ground level to about two feet up, the place was trashed. The countertop sagged over the remains of the main display case, from which several long, blood-stained shards lay scattered across the floor. But the blood had come from somewhere else. Namely, the large gelatinous pool in one corner, haloed by the blurry prints of hands.  
  
"Miss Komagata?" Hiko called out. "Are you here?"  
  
Uneasily, Sano edged over to the half-open door of Yumi's room, which had a much lower Kenshin quotient than before. "Doesn't look like there's any Battousai action in here. Whatever was left of his clothes is gone too-- it's not like enough was left in one piece to wear, so any idea what he'd want with them?" Sano's ex-jacket was gone too, he realized, with all the stuff from its pockets. So much for his lockpicks and snack break.  
  
He had just extracted a particularly mysterious piece of underwear from one drawer when Hiko's voice distracted him, in an odd tone which Sano had never heard before. It was just as quiet as librarian mode, but sounded very different. "Damn him to every realm of hell. Yumi..."  
  
By the time Sano reached him, Hiko had nearly finished cutting her free. Thrown aside, the silver wire from his sword blade lay across his coat. The long shreds of fabric tying her down to the workbench were unrecognizable beneath their clotted overlay, but they had to be Kenshin's former wardrobe. They'd been useful for something after all.  
  
The sword slipped on one of the last few knots, pricking her skin beneath it. Her hand twitched, reminding Sano to breathe. "Is she okay?" He winced at the unspoken response, which might as well have been the award trophy for Best Display of Total Idiocy, and backed away as Hiko scooped her off the table.  
  
A sigh breathed out from the dried mask of gore on her face. "I tried-- tried to stop him, but I couldn't--"  
  
"Don't try to talk yet. First, let me tend your wounds." He had already reached her room, where he laid her on the bed before shutting the door in Sano's face.  
  
---  
  
"Since when did we have a basement?" Kaoru asked, incredulous.  
  
Joyce put down her side of the bookcase and wiped her forehead. "When your grandmother died, she asked us to seal it off with her things inside. I couldn't use them because I was never trained as a miko, and she said they shouldn't be destroyed or passed on to a stranger. Besides," she added, pulling the bookcase farther away from the door, "I know this is one place where we won't have to worry about Yahiko's cat allergies later."  
  
As the girls descended, their footsteps swirled up a fine layer of dust from the stairs. Kaoru grabbed the strap of Megumi's bookbag to steady her from a sneeze, while at the forefront, the cat squeaked from the sneeze-tightened grip. Megumi turned around when they reached the bottom. "But if there's major miko mojo down here, are you sure it's okay for me to sit around with all this stuff? If Tomoe can still get to me, she could end up using it against us."  
  
"I don't think so," Joyce called down. "From what I know, these are mostly for information and defense, not attack. So even if she can touch them, she can't use them to hurt us."  
  
"If you say so," Megumi said doubtfully. "At least that means my body will be nice and protected when she's using it to stick pointy things into yours. So when do we know it's safe for me to come out?"  
  
"When we hear from the guys, I guess. Or until the cat really needs to go to the bathroom. Are you sure you want to keep her down here with you?"  
  
"She'll keep me company, and maybe she can even help me out with another magic hairball. But I don't know when was the last time she ate anything, so could you maybe bring some kibble and a box of kitty litter later on?"  
  
"Is there anything else you want for lunch?"  
  
"Kaoru, really," Joyce said, beckoning her up again. "Megumi, if there's anything you'd like to eat, just let me know. The power socket is over there-- oh good, you found it already-- so you'll have the radio and a lamp to read by, and we'll tell you as soon as we get any word from the others."  
  
---  
  
It had been a good night for business at the Yoshiwara, Enishi saw. There was barely space enough to park his car among the rest, even with a gap so narrow that he had to leave his coat and weapons behind for squirming out. His passage stripped the velvet layer of frost from the chrome beside him, leaving a thin cold trickle of grime and ashes. He might not've found Jineh again last night, but he'd certainly found every sinkhole of rats and swamp gas down in the tunnels. Perhaps it had been a bad idea to light a cig down there. And even before that, he'd been wounded with fire, steel, and grief from losing Tomoe. All the same, he felt oddly light-headed from having salvaged some good of it after all.   
  
For one, he'd never have to deal with that git of a doorman again. While Enishi hadn't held much personal grudge against him, it seemed a poor management decision to retain an employee who'd started off by cutting his throat. Then again, at least the door had always had a good watch on it, unlike right now with whoever was standing in for him. By now, it should've been opened up with a greeting, or at least a request for ID. But perhaps the girls on the dance floor had worked up something special that was worth an extra look. He shrugged and let himself in.  
  
Instantly, he knew something was wrong. The thump of music was audible from here, as always, but it was tinny and garish without anyone talking under it. Even when the girls were practising routines on their own, they'd giggle and chat together. With all the cars out front, there should've been enough audience for normal conversation to carry, even if no hoots and cheers were forthcoming.  
  
He dashed back to his car to arm himself. Sword poised and ready, he stepped back through the door and strode into the depths of hell.  
  
---  
  
Left to loiter on his own, Sano aimlessly poked around the main gallery space, chewing on a fishbone and occasionally glancing at the closed door of Yumi's room. The taps in there had run until the pipes made that hot-water sound, and then they shut off again just before a solid creak of bedsprings announced Hiko sitting down to clean her up. It was nearly as good as a whoopee cushion.  
  
Since then, it'd been mostly quiet, except for some muffled random noises from which Sano had deliberately edged out of earshot. He wasn't sure if some of them were repeat bedsprings, but he figured he might as well move away on general principle. Besides, he still didn't have much idea of what happened before they got here, other than Jineh's sword going AWOL with Battousai. Hiko hadn't even gone to the now totally empty sword case while looking for Yumi, since it wasn't like she could've fit inside it except in snack-sized bites. For once, Sano was a step ahead of him, though he would've preferred to trade it for the bliss bonus of not having to know about this yet.  
  
The big pool of blood nearby wasn't exactly happy-making either, but at least it was more interesting than pottery. After staring at the edges for a while, he could figure out some other shapes from the smears around it. The handprints at one end were really clear, but the other end looked more like a scuffle of feet and knees. Off to the side, a some narrow pits were shaped like the point of a blade that'd been stabbed hard into the walls and floor. So Yumi must've put up a good fight with her knife, even while Battousai was cutting her down. And then he'd dragged her to the table back there and--  
  
Sano frowned, looking from the corner to the doorway. Even when Kenshin was being Battousai, could he really carry Yumi? Well, maybe he could, but there wouldn't be any point in doing that instead of just grabbing her arms and legs to haul her along the floor. There weren't any drag marks, though, just overlapping footprints. Battousai staggering back and forth with a heavy load? But were all of those prints in Kenshin's shoe size?  
  
Following the trail into the workshop, he ran smack into the table where Yumi had been tied down. While he held onto it for balance, Sano's eyes adjusted to the dim light. The footprints weren't making any more sense yet, because their first pass went right past the table and across the room. Maybe she ran for the window? It was pretty high, but she could've tried for a boost up the wall from the cot. He meandered along with the footprints until they dipped under a dark fold of the coverlet, reappeared from further down the bed, and doubled back again.   
  
Several things occurred to him in random order. The last time he'd seen that cot, Tomoe had been napping on it, wrapped up in Kenshin's coat and a set of white sheets. Despite the mess all over Yumi, the table she'd been tied to was clean and dry. In fact, the weird chicken-liver smell of way too much blood lying around was stronger over here. Gingerly, he poked at the cot with a fishbone, drawing the sheet aside to reveal what lay beneath.  
  
When he recovered some sense of aplomb, he felt relieved that neither Megumi nor Kaoru was around to hear the embarrassingly girly squee he had just made, though it might've carried far enough to be heard in the rest of the building. Hoping it hadn't, he ran to the front room and wrenched the door open. "Hey, I think something's wrong in here."  
  
Yumi raised her head from Hiko's and smiled. Spilling across both their faces, her hair had the same dark sheen as the blade in her hand, including the fresh crimson highlights. In its exciting new location on her knife hilt, the emerald from her old naginata was swirling with an inner green flame, as bright as her golden eyes. "I don't know about you, kid," she said, "but this looks just fine to me."  
  
---  
  
"Mom? It's been a while since we got home. Shouldn't we have heard from the guys by now?"  
  
Joyce smiled and shrugged, but Kaoru could tell her mother was uneasy. She shifted her posture at the far side of the living-room sofa. "I'm sure that Mr. Hiko can look after himself, and Sanosuke as well. Otherwise I would've let you go with them, no matter what they said about having you guard me."  
  
"I think what Mr. Hiko was really worried about was me going soft on Kenshin. I don't know why, since it's not like I didn't kill him before."  
  
"Oh, honey. It sounded more to me as if he wanted to spare you from fighting Battousai this time, since he knew how hard it was for you before. You've already been through enough just since last night to deserve some rest now."  
  
"But--" Unable to stop fidgeting, Kaoru nearly twitched one shoe off. She wrapped Kenshin's coat more closely around herself to keep everything else contained. "Even if that's what everybody else wants, I can't just sit here and do nothing. I should at least go check on them to find out what's going on."  
  
"No."  
  
"But Mom--"  
  
"Kaoru, I said no," her mother repeated, still calm and clear. "Mr. Hiko had no right to involve you in this in the first place."  
  
"But Dad and the sakabatou--"  
  
Joyce's words wavered now. "I know. But it should have ended there. If Jineh and Enishi had found Kenshin and killed him with the sakabatou, they would've lost any chance of recovering their former abilities. But now that Battousai is awake again...."  
  
Mutinously, Kaoru stuffed her hands into her pockets, feeling the silver fishbone necklace dig into the seams. "Okay, I'll let the guys take care of it this time. But speaking of Enishi, shouldn't we try to track him down too? He might have some connections to the Yoshiwara besides that guy who kidnapped Megumi for him. And I'm the only one of us who he hasn't already met, so he won't recognize me on sight. And he should be pretty easy to spot, right? Sano-type hair, big-ass sword?"  
  
"Kaoru...."  
  
"It's just a short bike ride there and back," she wheedled. "And besides, school is kind of on the way, so I can fetch more books for my test on Monday. C'mon, Mom, pleeeeeeeeease?"   
  
Joyce visibly counted to ten before sighing. "I'd rather drive you there, but we really shouldn't leave Megumi by herself. Do you have any weapons?"  
  
"Huh? I thought you didn't want me to fight this time."  
  
"I don't. So if you don't have any with you, you'll try harder to stay out of trouble, or at least I hope so."  
  
Kaoru stood up and waved her arms around like an airport security victim. "You can go get the metal-detector magnetic bloodhounds. No swords, no crossbows, no pointy sticks, no nothing," she said, not saying anything about the necklace. It wasn't like it had been made to be used as a weapon, so technically it didn't count.  
  
"No fighting?"  
  
"If I even see any thumb-wrestling, I promise I'll turn around and run. Otherwise, I'll just ride to the Yoshiwara, take a quick look around, and then call you from the school library on the way back. Okay?"  
  
---  
  
Well, crap, Sano pondered thoughtfully. If his libinidal checklist was going to keep coming true in weird ways, maybe it was time to develop a fetish that involved having lots of really excellent weapons around. Even as he retreated into the main gallery, he couldn't help but feel conflicted about the present circumstances. Because okay, Yumi wasn't wearing much besides a smile right now, but it was accessorized with an evil soulsucking knife and various scary bloodstains. Not only that, but there was the question of how she could've hidden her knife earlier, considering that she hadn't been wearing much more when they found her. Dang it, why did his exposure to girl parts have to keep being from Yumi splashing blood around?  
  
Her lack of wounds had been covered up earlier by the dried pints plastered onto her, wherever those had come from. She must've been desperate to stick Battousai with her knife in self-defense and get possessed all over again, so maybe she'd been wounded enough that some of it was hers after all. But after that, they'd gone to the back room to slice Tomoe into bits, leaving enough mess for several more coats of type-AB body paint. Maybe that was payback for Tomoe cutting Kenshin into the same kirigami pattern last night, but if so, Yumi and Battousai had definitely paid her in large denominations without sequential serial numbers and told her to keep the change.  
  
Sano retreated back into the gallery, crunching the ex-display case under his boots. As Yumi slid across the bed, she squeezed incoherent grunts out of both him and Hiko for very different reasons. Maybe. Probably once Hiko cleaned her up enough to realize she wouldn't need bandages, she didn't want them to go to waste. Whatever those cloth strips were made of, he must've been hella strong to tear them up in the first place, considering how well they were tying him down now. Yumi hadn't been so good at applying them in the bandage department, though. Hiko didn't look exactly dead yet, but if he entered a marathon right now, he'd probably reach the finish line somewhere between Christopher Reeves and Stephen Hawking. At least Hawking had wheels.   
  
Crap, Sano philosophized further. Here she was, as babelicious as he had ever conjectured, but she was in the middle of being evil. But she was naked! But she was evil!! On top of that, the really good weapons were either in the workshop or on the other side of Yumi, all he had on him was some bent-up fishbones, and why did she have to be both naked and evil at the same time anyway?!  
  
"Where're you going? Come on in and join the party," she whispered silkily. "You don't have to wait until his turn's over-- I've got plenty of love to go around." She adjusted her grip on her knife, wrapping fingers around the hilt and blowing a kiss from it in a way that milked cold sweat from Sano's neck and dropped the fishbone from his mouth. The metallic clatter distracted him, but her laugh was even more silvery and sharp-edged. "Just lie down and give it up. I promise it'll feel better than trying to throw anything in your condition-- though whatever you did to your arms, I promise I can do it better."  
  
Oh great, the cat scratches were bleeding all the way through his jacket now. Perversely, Sano hurled the nearest vase, but it hurt him a lot more than it did her. For that matter, most of it smashed off the wall into Hiko instead, except for one nice sharp piece straight into her neck. All that did was add a funny squiggle to her smile and walk. As casually as if pulling a loose strand of hair out of her collar, she pulled it out with a droplet of pale flame. The wound healed over even before the discarded sliver of clay hit the floor.   
  
Nevertheless, she stopped, glanced down again, and changed her angle of approach. That was weird, Sano thought at first, before realizing that the debris wasn't just ex-pottery. The broken display case had been mirrored. As such, it provided new and interesting perspectives of Naked!Yumi, but the reflective coating must mean the glass was really silvered with real silver. He couldn't throw it any better than pottery, but at least it was already scattered around her bare feet. Quickly, he stomped the nearest piece of mirror into smaller pieces and kicked them toward her, then fled into the workshop to free up his strategic planning from visual distraction.  
  
Okay, so he had an evil naked babe on his hands. So to speak. If Sano remembered the basics correctly, then the only way he could kill her was by thwacking her evil naked weapon into her to make her evil naked jewel blow up. Obviously this was some kind of mid-season animation-budget flashback episode because they'd already done that before, so why was she evil again?  
  
Maybe Megumi could figure it out, especially now that Tomoe was too dead to do anything to her. But if he called in the girls for backup, that would leave Kaoru's mom on her own with Battousai wandering around unless they brought her here with them, which wasn't any better, and besides by the time they got here, it might be too late. Yumi had started humming lap-dance music out there, with the melody drifting farther away as she returned to Hiko. Dag freaking nabbit!   
  
This was no time to think about strategy instead of just plain fighting, he decided. He considered the mochi napalm and ofudized crossbow bolts in Hiko's coat pockets, but they'd probably set the place on fire and Yumi was a lot more likely than him to reach the exit first, or at all. Even if she didn't, she might just do that Terminator-style walk out of the flaming wreckage to come get him, and anyway he'd have to hold her knife down through her into the ground to make sure she was un-undead again.  
  
He picked up the discarded silver wire and dumped it onto the table along with everything else from Hiko's coat, then topped off the pile with his remaining fishbones. Some of them briefly tangled in his pocket before snapping loose; he hadn't just cut through it and killed off the second jacket this weekend, had he? Nope, it was some weird boingy lace straps. What the--?  
  
Oh. Great. Even Yumi's underwear was out to get him. Okay, he was going to get through this fight anyway. Either that, or at least it might be fun being evil and naked with Yumi afterward if she didn't cut him into bits instead.  
  
---  
  
After Enishi turned off the music, the Yoshiwara was silent except for his footsteps and the monotonous drip of leaky plumbing. Unfortunately, the plumbing had consisted of the circulatory systems of everyone in the building. He glanced up at a tattered sleeve hanging from the ceiling, then muttered a curse as more blood splattered straight onto his glasses. At least he hadn't bothered washing up before coming in, or that would've been a real waste of effort.  
  
Battousai had come here for a grand old time, that much was clear. He must've walked straight through the front door after blocking all the others from the outside and starting on the blokes in the audience. They were the lucky ones, though. He'd kept the girls alive for longer.  
  
The back corridor was a bit tidier than the dance floor, if only because it was elevated. Two or three more bodies-- it was hard to get a count just by mentally jigsawing the bits-- were cluttering it up, but he could pick his way through the less squishy bits of the carpet all the way down to his office. Still no lizard; the brat must've come and gone.   
  
Well, there was nothing to be done for it now, and plenty of plans to be sorted out anyway. Enishi shook his head, laid his sword across the top of the desk, and sat down to catch up on paperwork. About halfway through the stack, more noises started up from the front, probably the morning shift coming in. He considered going out to meet them, but if they were anywhere near as jumpy as he'd been, he'd end up with random bits of metal stuck into him, and he'd had enough of that for one day.   
  
By the time they'd made their way to the office door, he was all finished up and ready to go. Tired of waiting, he called out to them. "Just me in here, so come on already."  
  
Nervously, the desk's previous occupant peered in at him from the midst of armed brawn. "Oh. Right. After we saw what happened in here, we tried to reach you, but we couldn't get to your new place, and the guy we sent to your old one called back and said it was empty."  
  
"Not much of a lookaround if he didn't spot at least one dead body in there."  
  
"Well, he did mention Kujirinami. Or what was left of him, anyway. Is there another syndicate moving into town, or anything like that?"  
  
Enishi shrugged. "Nothing I can't settle myself. I'll be away longer than we planned, since I'll have more to do than just the move-in. But I reckon while you're filling in for me, your first order of business can be finding a new lad for the door. That, and getting fresh carpets laid in. I'll let everyone know they'll be dealing with Wu Heishin again, at least for now."  
  
Wu sidled in with his bodyguards, to the extent that bodyguards could be considered to sidle. As Enishi stood up and strolled toward the door, Wu cautiously edged toward the chair, keeping the desk between them. "So all of the stuff out there-- that wasn't a... mass downsizing on your part, was it?  
  
"Not quite my style. I'll take care of it, I said. But if you try anything with my new sword besides bringing it to my car, I'll sack your bum into individually wrapped packets of bum bits, so come along now."  
  
With a nervous laugh, Wu took the sword from the desk and squished behind Enishi toward the parking lot. "I was just admiring the fine details on the hilt, that's all. I've never seen anything like it-- did it come from our jewelers' network?"  
  
"Nah. Picked it up at a place I found last night. Hole in the wall in the middle of nowhere, you might say. One of our rock shops sent a note this morning you should look into, though-- they lost a big gemstone from out a locked safe, they claim. Reckon we should make sure no one there accidentally swallowed it, coz that sort of thing's likely to be bad for the digestion. Now, just stand aside with the sword until I'm out of that costive clench of a parking space, and then you can give it over and go back inside."   
  
He noticed Wu polishing his fingerprints off the hilt with a sleeve before handing it through the window. Enishi grinned, encouraging Wu to bolt back into the Yoshiwara instead of lingering beside the car. Quickly dropping the sword onto the other seat, Enishi rubbed his hands against each other, blowing on his fingers as if for warmth. Instead, a fine powder of ash sifted off his skin, erasing the silvered imprint of the sakabatou.  
  
-----  
  
chapter title: http://www.cs.pdx.edu/~trent/ochs/lyrics/highwayman-orig.html  
  
Psycho Kitty Keisuke (belatedly): Megumi's family contains at least one fan of the Talking Heads. Run run run, run run run away.  
  
Terminator: I have no idea whether the T-1000's firewalk in T2 was replicated by the more Yumi-shaped upgrade to whom Ah-nold gave a swirly in T3, which I have not seen.   
  
*fret* Ack. My narrative keeps sliding into inner monologue, endangering the maxim of "show, don't tell" even when the dialogue isn't turning into "As you know, Bob" forced exposition. And it *still* hasn't started on the fight scene(s) that I'd hoped to fit into here but decided not to after checking the current length against the previous chapters. All this after wading through different drafts for a year before finally getting this one to hang together at all, and it still doesn't have any structure unto itself as opposed to just being a roughly chapter-sized chunk of stuff.  
  
Oh well. At least the next chapter should simply bridge over into FotN, from whence "Edodale" will just re-emerge out the other side with enough backfill to preserve continuity for those who opted out of the E/K smut. On the other hand, that's what I've been thinking for the last several chapters too. Feh. 


	21. chapter title footnotes

Throwaway notes on chapter titles and links to their original contexts, if anyone cares.   
Some of the info may seem terribly obvious, but I think there's at least one reader out   
there who's familiar with Buffy but not RK, and various idioms etc. may be unfamiliar to   
people whose native language isn't English. Biblical refs are to the King James version   
and uncredited plays are by Shakespeare. If an author is cited but no title is given, the   
quote is part of the title of the work in question.  
  
1: (Matthew 27:7) http://www.bartleby.com/108/40/27.html -- not really all that   
appropriate, but I couldn't resist the pun about Hiko's occupation(s).  
2: http://us.imdb.com/Title?0070034 -- most of Kenshin's canon attacks have "dragon"   
somewhere in their names, making that his de facto totem animal. Most of the RK   
characters have some sort of critter associated with them in canon.  
3: the literal translation of the kanji in Kenshin's personal name.  
4: Megumi's canon nickname, literally meaning "she-fox".  
5: (Robert Frost) http://www.robertfrost.org/poem1.html  
6: (proverb) http://reading.englishclub.com/pv_birdsoffeather.htm  
7: (_Romeo and Juliet_ V.iii.123) http://www.bartleby.com/70/3853.html  
8: (TS Eliot, "The Waste Land", line 3) http://www.bartleby.com/201/1.html  
9: (Alfred Lord Tennyson, "Rosalind", line 2)   
http://home.att.net/~TennysonPoetry/rosalind.htm  
10: (Robert Herrick, "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time", line 1)   
http://www.bartleby.com/101/248.html  
11: http://www.party411.com/theme67.html -- a party game often associated with flirting.  
12: (George Thorogood) http://www.georgethorogood.com/discs/discs.html  
13: (The Song of Solomon 5:2) http://www.bartleby.com/108/22/5.html  
14: (_Macbeth_ II.ii. 58) http://www.bartleby.com/70/4122.html   
15: (Ben Jonson, "To Celia") http://www.bartleby.com/101/185.html  
16: ("Lyke-Wake Dirge", line 3) http://www.bartleby.com/243/33.html -- see their   
footnote about textual variations.  
17: (Tennyson, "Maud", line 924) http://www.bartleby.com/42/6491.html -- don't panic;   
it's the very last line on the page.  
18: (Isaiah 14:12) http://www.bartleby.com/108/23/14.html  
19: (Harry S. Miller) http://www.kididdles.com/mouseum/c020.html   
  
"In the Forests of the Night": (William Blake, "The Tiger", line 2)  
http://www.bartleby.com/101/489.html -- Enishi has a canon association with   
tigers. "Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed" in part two is an idiom for being alert, but   
also a rather bad pun based on Kaoru's similar association with an animal called a   
tanuki, which is often translated as "raccoon" even though it isn't. Not that the puns for   
the individual chapter titles are much better.  
  
1: http://www.rosemaryclooney.com/LyricPages/ComeOnAMyHouse.html -- the late   
Rosemary Clooney didn't write the lyrics, but she sang the best-known rendition.  
2: http://us.imdb.com/Title?0093058 -- probably best known from the rap number by 2   
Live Crew, but originally sampled from Stanley Kubrick's movie _Full Metal Jacket_.   
3 and 4: Pretty much self-explanatory. Please don't hurt me.  
  
  
Both of these writing projects are now also archived at FanDomination.net ; there may be   
minor variations between "Edodale" chapters at the two sites, dating back to whenever it   
was that I reformatted them to 70 characters per line. I may go back and shove them back   
into consistency at some point; until then, the versions here are the more up-to-date ones.  
  
I've also archived FotN at AdultFanFiction.net , though I feel about shy about pointing   
this out since so far, it's the only entry in the RK section. Lots of other goodies there,   
though :) 


End file.
